News

In this section you will find information on events organised by the Equal Opportunities Officer, as well as general news on equality-related topics, innovations and changes.

  • Care

    Care work and now?

    The picture shows the participants of the Alliance for Care Work who met in Berlin on 16 March.


    Caring work is not only carried out professionally, but is also an integral part of many families. Corona has clearly demonstrated to society how important this work is. There is also a consensus that gossiping does not help anyone in this field of work - professional or voluntary - or those affected.

    Care work is also closely scrutinised by equal opportunities officers. After all, it is predominantly women who work in these areas. The Federal Working Group of Municipal Women's and Equal Opportunities Officers is also a member of the Care Work Alliance.

    On 16 March, the 1st Parliamentary Breakfast of the "Care Work Alliance" took place in Berlin, of which the BAG is also a member.

    Representatives from the alliance, politics and administration discussed how the #caregap can be closed at three themed tables

    Here is an overview of the Alliance's demands at the themed tables:

    1) Increase the number of parental allowance months that cannot be transferred to the other parent to at least four months per parent.

    2) Abolition of income tax class V and introduction of individual taxation with a transferable basic tax-free allowance in order to encourage women in a marriage to work in order to secure their livelihood.

    3 ) Introduction of a wage replacement benefit for care phases. This is intended to secure the livelihood of working family carers and also act as an incentive for men to become more involved in caring for relatives.


    Care in figures

    The following figures on care were recently published in GIP 3/2023.

    In January 2023, Chairwoman Edeltraut Hütte-Schmitz of the Federal Association of Family Carers "wir pflegen e.V." gave the following figures

    Family carers provided 7.2 billion hours of care in 2019. This means a reduction of 90 billion euros in the burden on the healthcare system and at the same time compensation for the care shortage in inpatient facilities.

    Care services are predominantly provided by women. In order to be able to do this, their own paid employment must be reduced. This means working part-time for years, if not giving up work completely.

    As a result, little or nothing is paid into their own pension scheme, which can lead to poverty in old age.

  • Further education and training

    Further education programme of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation

    The Konrad Adenauer Foundation is once again offering a wide range of programmes for women this year. The programme is varied and is aimed at interested women. You can download the programme as a PDF from the website.


    Further education programme of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

    The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung has many interesting programmes in its further education and training portfolio, both in general and for women.

    You can find out exactly what is on offer on the foundation's website.

  • Gender Pension Gap

    The gender pension gap refers to the income gap between women and men of retirement age.

    You can find more general information in the Women and Finance tab in the Women section.

    Gender Pension Gap 2023

    The Federal Statistical Office has published the latest figures for 2023. The graphic from the Federal Statistical Office is particularly illustrative. Background information on the figures can be found at the Federal Statistical Office and at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology for the BMFSFSJ