On April 16 and 17, 49 women's and equal opportunities officers from Bavarian municipalities came together in Erlangen for their annual meeting. The aim was to
- share experiences
- to receive further training on equality issues and
- exchange information with each other.
Why the exchange is so important
Sharing information about the tasks and challenges is once again of central importance, especially in light of current developments. Gender equality work is experiencing significant resistance at state level and in local authorities, as shown by the state government's repeated postponement of the amendment to the Bavarian Gender Equality Act and the "gender ban" in Bavaria. Claudia Wolter, Equal Opportunities Officer for the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt, LAG spokesperson and co-organizer of the conference. "At the annual meeting, priorities are set, fundamental decisions are made, resolutions are passed and there are many opportunities for mutual exchange."
What was discussed and debated
Support is provided by the Federal Foundation for Gender Equality Berlin. Its director, Lisi Maier, spoke at the meeting. The foundation provides information, strengthens practice and supports the development of new projects.
For example, an exchange of experiences is to take place in Erlangen and support options for Bavaria are to be identified. Other topics this year were
- the legal situation of abortions
- the implementation of the Istanbul Convention and
- the upcoming conference of the federal working group in Würzburg in September.
This is what the city's Equal Opportunities Officer Christina Nießen-Straube says
"Equal opportunities officers are often lone fighters who experience a lot of resistance in their work. A current example is the uncertainty caused by the ban on special gender symbols in Bavaria, even if this does not formally apply to municipalities. If we want to address all people without exception, then we need the gender star in some situations because there are not cross-gender terms for all formulations. The use of gender-sensitive language - and therefore also the gender star - is an achievement of gender equality policy. Fighting for this again and again is tiring. The annual meetings at the LAG meeting are therefore also extremely important for us as gender equality officers because we receive a lot of mutual support here. We learn here that our daily efforts to achieve real equality for people of all genders are always worthwhile, despite all the resistance!"
What municipal equal opportunities officers do
Municipal gender equality officers are tasked with promoting the implementation of the constitutional principle of gender equality. They network in the Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft kommunaler Gleichstellungsstellen (LAG).
Photo: Harald Sippel
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