BSW on equality and diversity

The BSW wants targeted support for East Germans, at least in the public service, academia and culture. It justifies this with lower wages in the east and the low share of East Germans in leadership positions.

The BSW wants special support for people from eastern Germany. This applies to government offices, science and culture. Wages in the east are often lower. Few East Germans hold top jobs.

According to the platform, wages in the east are in places 21 percent below the western level. It says East Germans are less represented at the top of administration, courts, universities and media than their share of the population would suggest. Talented people from the east should get easier access to scholarships. A staff development plan is meant to support their path into leadership roles.

The BSW wants to expand protection and support services for women affected by violence and create many more places in women's shelters and safe housing. The federal government should fund shelters permanently, and staying there should be free for women.

Many women experience violence. There are too few places in women's shelters. The BSW wants to create many more places. The federal government should pay for the shelters. Women should not have to pay to stay there.

The platform cites more than 12,000 missing shelter places and points to rising violence against women. For prevention, there should be comparable approaches nationwide. Education about protection from violence should be a fixed part of the curriculum at schools and universities. Programs for perpetrators and anti-aggression training are also to be expanded.

The BSW wants abortion in the first twelve weeks to be generally exempt from punishment. In addition, public health insurers should pay for prescription contraceptives for women and girls. The reasoning is the right to decide about one's own body.

Women should decide about their own bodies. Abortion should not be a crime up to the 12th week. Prescription birth control should be free for women and girls. Health insurance should pay for it.

The platform wants to guarantee the free decision for or against having a child. On contraception, the BSW points out that women usually bear the costs. For that reason, public health insurers are to cover prescription products.

The BSW rejects the Selbstbestimmungsgesetz (Self-Determination Act) because, in the platform's view, it undermines protections for women. Changing one's gender should only be possible with a medical report. In women's sports, biological sex should apply.

Today, people can change their legal gender themselves at a public office. The BSW is against this law. It wants a doctor to write a report first. The BSW says the law puts safe spaces for women at risk.

The platform criticizes that a simple declaration could open access to women's sports, changing rooms, restrooms, women's prisons and shelters. In competitive sports, it calls the participation of biological males in the women's category unfair. Sex offenders should have no legal claim to change their gender entry. The press and victims should not be punished for calling such an offender a man.