The congress of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) decided today, for the first time in its history, to implement a quota of women for government bodies, assuming the goal of reaching parity in 2025.
According to AFP, the party’s delegates approved this new rule with 559 votes in favor, 409 against and 11 abstentions at the congress taking place in Hannover.
According to the approved norm, starting next year women must occupy a third of managerial positions at the local and national levels, rising to 40% from 2024 and 50% by mid-2025.
For the general, regional and European elections, these same quotas will be applied to the first ten positions on the lists of candidates.
During the Hannover congress, several delegates opposed the introduction of quotas.
CDU President Friedrich Merz supported the goal of parity, noting that “more than 50% of voters are women.”
This was a topic of discussion for several years in the party of former Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Former CDU president Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who led the party between 2018 and early 2021, campaigned for parity in the party’s bodies, but encountered resistance in this organization whose positions of responsibility are mostly held by men.
Source: Observadora
