CDU on equality and diversity

The CDU wants leadership positions in the state administration, in state-owned companies, and in companies majority-owned by the state to be filled half by women and half by men. The public sector is to lead the way. Time taken for family should not harm careers, and more women are to be attracted to STEM professions.

The CDU wants more women in leadership positions. In the state administration, equal numbers of women and men should lead. This also applies to companies the state owns. People who care for children should not be at a disadvantage at work. More women should choose technical jobs.

Targeted staff development is meant to encourage women to apply for leadership posts; for the CDU, promoting women and selecting the best candidates go together. Part-time leadership and shared leadership are to be tested, and flexible and remote work in the state administration promoted. During parental leave or leave to care for children or relatives, regular performance reviews in the public sector could be carried forward on a notional basis. The statewide gender equality strategy is to be implemented consistently. To get more women into mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, and technology, the CDU wants to advance the project "Komm mach MINT."

The CDU aims for parliaments and municipal councils with equal numbers of women and men and wants to keep filling the state government on a parity basis. However, it rejects legal quotas for parties' candidate lists. Instead, political work is to become more family-friendly, for example through digital and hybrid meetings.

The CDU wants more women in politics. But it does not want a law with fixed quotas for party lists. Politics should fit better with family life. Meetings should also be possible online. There should be childcare during meetings.

More women are to be encouraged to run for office. Meetings of parties and municipal bodies should remain possible in digital or hybrid form after the pandemic; for municipal bodies, the CDU wants to work out solutions with the municipalities in the next legislative term. This is meant to make local political involvement easier above all for parents of younger children, especially women. Childcare offered during political meetings is to be supported. Panels at state events are to include both women and men.

The CDU considers gender-sensitive language important but sees its use as fundamentally a private matter. Government agencies and state institutions should apply it only within the rules of the Council for German Orthography; the party rejects gender symbols there as a matter of principle. Schools are to follow these rules as well.

The CDU says language should address women and men. In private, everyone should decide for themselves how to write. Government offices should follow the official spelling rules. The CDU rejects symbols like the gender asterisk there. Schools should also teach by these rules.

The platform describes the German language as a cultural asset that has grown over time and should be cared for, while acknowledging that it changes along with society. Language should also be as accessible as possible, including for people with disabilities or with limited German. Grammar and spelling taught in class must follow the Council for German Orthography. In the CDU's view, gender-fair spellings must not make it harder to learn written German.

The CDU wants to further strengthen women's counseling centers, child protection facilities and the KIK network against domestic violence. Prevention work in schools is to grow, and affected men are also to receive counseling and protection. The platform argues that prevention is the best protection against violence.

The CDU wants to prevent violence in families. Counseling centers for women should get more support. Schools should teach more about the topic. Teachers should get training for this. Men who suffer violence should also get help.

Volunteers in women's counseling are to receive training to secure the quality of the work. Schools as institutions are to take on more responsibility for the issue, which is to be achieved through teacher training. Girls and boys are to be educated equally. Counseling services for men who experience domestic violence are to be kept and funded. Together with service providers, a concept for on-call shelters is to be developed.

The CDU wants to provide enough places in women's shelters across the state and set uniform quality standards. Women who do not need a shelter should quickly get a home of their own.

Women's shelters protect women from violence. The CDU wants enough places across the state. A new shelter is planned in the north. All shelters should be equally good. Women should also find a home of their own faster.

A new women's shelter is to be created together with the districts of Schleswig-Flensburg and Nordfriesland. The number of places is to be reviewed and adjusted regularly, and protection concepts are to grow in line with an independent needs analysis. Statewide standards are meant to ensure equally good services. The platform points to the "Frauen_Wohnen" project, through which more than 800 women and children moved into homes of their own. Talks with the housing industry are meant to produce further housing options.

The CDU wants people with disabilities to be able to decide about their own sexuality and to be better protected from sexual violence. To that end, support services and staff training are to grow.

People with disabilities should decide about their own sexuality. The CDU wants to protect them better from sexual violence. There should be more counseling and therapy for this. Professionals should also learn more about it.

Counseling, education and therapy services are to be expanded for people with disabilities and for those affected. Professionals in the relevant facilities, services and specialist offices are to receive more training. According to the platform, the goal is not only to strengthen this right but to make it workable in practice.

The CDU wants to continue and expand the state action plan against racism, with a focus on prevention. At the same time, it opposes what it sees as sweeping accusations of racism and wants historical names explained rather than removed without debate.

The CDU wants to keep working against racism. The state has a plan for this. The CDU wants to continue that plan. But it is also against claims of racism made without reason. It wants to explain old names, not just remove them.

Projects by educational and recreational institutions against racism and discrimination are to be funded. In the state administration, training courses and anonymous job applications are planned, including through a digital applicant portal, with the state aiming to set an example for private employers. Together with the housing industry, a guide against discrimination in the search for housing is to be drawn up. According to the platform, historical terms should be explained in their context.

The CDU wants to strengthen the LGBTQIA+ community and oppose social discrimination against it. Queer ways of life are to be represented in education, and counseling and contact points are to be available across the state.

The CDU wants to support queer people. These are, for example, lesbian, gay or trans people. No one should treat them unfairly. They should have a place in education. Help and advice should be available all over the state.

Institutions that advocate for this group are to be strengthened further. The CDU wants to talk with municipalities about how statewide services can be created outside the urban centers as well. At state and federal level, existing direct and indirect disadvantages are to be reviewed. According to the platform, the federal government should also address the legal situation of same-sex couples who want children, especially regarding legal parenthood.

The CDU wants to take action against violence targeting queer people and to reduce discrimination. At the state and federal level, it also wants family law rules to be reviewed.

The CDU wants to protect queer people better. Queer means, for example, lesbian, gay or trans. The party wants to act against violence. There should be less unfair treatment. Family law should also be checked.

The program points to a rising number of violent acts against queer people and promises a firm response. Institutions that offer support and serve as contact points are to be strengthened. The party wants to examine how services can be set up across the state that businesses can also turn to. At the state and federal level, the CDU wants to push for less discrimination and a review of family law.

The CDU wants to keep supporting the state's national minorities and ethnic groups and give them financial planning security. Existing funding arrangements, including for the Danish school system, are to stay in place.

Several minorities live in Schleswig-Holstein. They include Danes, Frisians, and Sinti and Roma. The CDU wants to keep supporting them. They should be able to live their culture and language. The money for this should stay secure.

Support is to go to, among others, the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN), the European Centre for Minority Issues in Flensburg and the academies of the Deutscher Grenzverein. The CDU backs the bid to have coexistence in the German-Danish border region recognized as a UNESCO good-practice example of intangible cultural heritage, and the new Danewerk Museum building. The Danewerk-Haithabu World Heritage site is to be strengthened, with a cultural route linking places of German-Danish and Frisian history. Funding for the minorities, the Nordfriisk Instituut and the Danish schools is to continue in its current form.

The CDU wants to make the post of commissioner for Jewish life and against antisemitism permanent and fund it. Synagogues and community centers are to get money for security and renovation, and an action plan is to rely mainly on education.

The CDU wants to protect Jewish life in the state. There is a commissioner against hatred of Jews. This post should stay for good. Synagogues should get money for security and repairs. Schools should teach about Jewish life.

Organizations that promote antisemitic projects or content are to continue receiving no state money. The action plan against antisemitism rests on education in and outside of schools. Synagogues and community buildings are to be safe yet open places for meeting; the CDU wants to provide funds for protection, renovation and modernization. Children's and youth work in the congregations is to be supported as well.