Gender Issues in Germany

Unemployment statistics and government strategy

Germany has laws and measures in place to support women in work and increase transparency. In 2017, they introduced the Transparent Remuneration Law which made it compulsory for companies with more than 200 employees to disclose a report on their gender pay gap and that men and women should be paid equally in the same workplace (Deloitte, 2017). This law was a step in the right direction as it allowed transparency between the employees, company, and external stakeholders. Germany also has the Basic Law (Grundgesetz), which outlines the basic rights for a German citizen. Article 3 refers to equality before the law which outlines that everyone has the same rights, and no one should be discriminated against because of their gender, origin, language, belief, sexual orientation, or disability (Federal Ministry of Justice, 2010). However, there is no law in place which specifically addresses the issue of gender inequality in the workplace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgmnMrPXQ5k

It is evident that gender is an issue in Germany as the Hofstede study shows a masculinity score of 66. This type of culture would consist of an environment with distinct gender roles, assertiveness for males whilst women are seen as nurturing, independence, and a highly competitive and performance-based environment (Browaeys & Price, 2019). This creates an issue for German culture as it is an ideal that is taught from a young age, which further enhances the masculine environment in the workplace. This shows the idea that they ‘live in order to work’ whereas a country like France would adopt the opposite approach, with a masculine score of 43 (Browaeys & Price, 2019). Based of this, it is implied that women in Germany are underrepresented in the higher positions within organisations (Goehlich et al, 2020). This is evident as the gender pay gap in Germany is at 17.6%, which is the third highest in Europe (Europa.eu, 2023). Not only is this gap as a result of the masculinity levels in Germany, but it is also due to women’s fear of being labelled as the ‘token woman’. Women in Germany want to be acknowledged and chosen for their qualifications as opposed to being chosen to meet the diversity criteria (Goehlich et al, 2020). The high gender pay gap and the way masculine culture is portrayed in Germany can create issues when operating on a international context as countries may be less inclined to working in Germany or under a German contract where they know the gender pay gap is significant. Even though there was a

law put in place from 2016 which required 30% of vacant supervisory board positions to be filled by women, it can be argued that in spite of that, there is still little to no progress as most management positions are filled by men (Iglhaut, 2022).

Furthermore, women are moving away from the stereotypical motherhood and housewife roles and striving towards dominating the working industry (Sadik-Lowinski, 2020). However, it is still difficult for women to do this, especially when working part-time. In 2021, the pay gap between part-time and full-time work was 11% (Eurostat, 2021). However, there is the Part-Time and Limitation Act which allows the right to temporary and permanent part-time work and the equal treatment of part-time workers. For women there is also the Mother Protection Act which protects women from termination and harmful work (Eurostat, 2021).

References

Browayes, M and Price, R (2019). Understanding cross cultural management. 4th edition. Harlow: Pearson.

Deloitte (2017). More wage justice by law – dealing with the new draft law. Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/dl/en/pages/legal/articles/entgelttransparenzgesetz.html (Accessed: 26th April 2022).

Eurostat (2021). The unadjusted gender pay gap working time (%), 2021. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=File:The_unadjusted_gender_pay_gap_by_working_time_(%25),_2021.png (Accessed; 17th April 2023).

Federal Ministry of Justice (2010). Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/39140/73278/F805966327/DEU39140%20English.pdf (Accessed: 10th April 2023).

Goehlich, V., Gilbertson, B and Bremser, K (2020). Implementation of Female Mentoring Programs in German Companies: Still Some Way To Go. Available at: http://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83867-249-220191008 (Accessed: 6th April 2023).

Iglhaut, C (2022). How women live and work in Germany. Available at: https://www.deutschland.de/en/topic/life/women-in-germany-society-politics-education (Accessed: 12th April 2023).

Sadik-Lowinski, B (2020). 6 German women: Shaping strategists in the middle of men′s clubs and motherhood stereotypes in Women in Top Management. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110715132-006 (Accessed: 5th April 2023).