Grüne on equality and diversity

The Greens want to replace Ehegattensplitting (joint income splitting for spouses) for newly married couples with individual taxation in which the basic allowance can be transferred to the partner. In the platform's view, today's rule keeps women out of paid work. Balancing family and work would also be made easier.

Married couples in Germany pay tax together today. The Greens want to change this for new marriages. Then each partner pays their own tax. Couples who are already married can keep the old rule.

Couples already married keep the current model and may switch voluntarily. The platform expects up to 840,000 additional workers if mothers could work as much as they wish. Employees would get more say over their working hours and flexible models, without overburdening employers. A reliable supply of childcare is described as the foundation. Spending on childcare, household help and household services would be tax-deductible to a greater extent. The reform is meant to give women independent financial security and protect them from poverty in old age.

The Greens want women to be able to enforce their right to equal pay in practice. Pay is to become more transparent and the rules easier to enforce in court. Employees should also have more say over their working hours.

Women often earn less than men. The Greens want to change that. Pay should be openly visible. Women should be able to sue for equal pay more easily. Workers should decide more about their own hours.

The EU Pay Transparency Directive would be transposed into German law quickly and in full. Job postings would generally have to state the salary; the platform says this would also lift low salaries. Women would get more influence over the length and scheduling of their hours, including through working from home and remote work under clear rules. Brückenteilzeit (temporary part-time with a right to return to full-time) would be widened and made more flexible. The platform names good childcare and reliable long-term care as preconditions.

The Greens want to reform the Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz (General Equal Treatment Act) and extend protection against discrimination, including by state bodies. Associations are to be allowed to sue, and counseling centers and the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency are to be strengthened.

A law protects people from unfair treatment. The Greens want to make this law stronger. It should cover more cases. People should have more time to complain. Associations should also be allowed to sue. The protection should also apply to government offices.

Deadlines, recognized grounds of discrimination, and the scope of the law are to be widened. Germany is to drop its reservation against the fifth European anti-discrimination directive. Counseling centers and self-organized groups are to get long-term funding and be expanded. A national action plan is to bundle anti-discrimination policy, and research on racism and discrimination is to grow. Training is to counter structural racism in health care, the justice system, and security agencies. The political participation of Black people is to be strengthened.

The Greens want to act against antisemitism regardless of who it comes from and to adequately fund the protection of Jewish communities. The platform points to the rise in antisemitic incidents after the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.

Jewish people should live safely in Germany. The Greens want more money to protect Jewish communities. Authorities should pursue and record attacks on Jews. Schools and courses should teach about hatred of Jews. Older Jewish people should get more social security.

The national strategy against antisemitism and for Jewish life is to be carried forward. Antisemitic incidents are to be prosecuted and documented, and gaps in the law closed. Projects that spread antisemitism, racism, or other inhumane ideologies are to get no funding. The plan includes a dedicated strategy against antisemitism online and an education strategy for all ages, including dialogue between faiths. Older Jewish people are to get better social protection, and Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union are to be put on equal footing with ethnic German resettlers.

The Greens want a national strategy against anti-Muslim hostility and want to protect Muslim life in Germany. Antigypsyism is also to be fought, including through a state treaty with the Sinti and Roma, and national minorities are to receive lasting support.

Muslims often face rejection in Germany. The Greens want a plan against this. Sinti and Roma should also be better protected. The federal government should sign a treaty with them. Authorities should pursue and record attacks. Minorities should get money for their language and culture.

The strategy against anti-Muslim hostility is to build on the recommendations of the independent commission set up on the issue. Training of imams in Germany is to move ahead to make Islamic communities more independent. The Deutsche Islam Konferenz (German Islam Conference) is to be developed further and include liberal Muslim representatives. Against antigypsyism, the expert commission's recommendations are to be implemented and the civil society monitoring office given a legal basis. August 2 is to be more widely recognized as the European day of remembrance for Sinti and Roma murdered in the Holocaust. Institutions of national minorities are to get long-term funding.

The Greens want to give people affected by domestic and gender-based violence, and their children, a legal right to protection and counseling. The federal government is to share the costs so that women's shelters, counseling centers, and safe housing are available everywhere free of charge.

Many women face violence at home. The Greens want to give them a right to protection. Their children should have this right too. There should be free women's shelters and counseling everywhere. The federal government should help pay for it. Offenders should not be allowed to come near victims.

The services are also to reach people with disabilities or language barriers. Partner violence must be taken into account in custody and visitation proceedings, with training for courts and police. Restraining orders are to be monitored effectively, for instance with electronic ankle monitors. After rape, qualified emergency care with anonymous evidence collection is to be available everywhere. The Istanbul Convention is to be implemented with more prevention, work with offenders, prosecution, and better data, also to combat femicide. Reception centers for refugees are to be required to adopt protection plans.

The Greens want stricter inspections of prostitution venues and higher standards for operating licenses. The aim is to secure working conditions, self-determination and safety for those affected. Changes to the Prostituiertenschutzgesetz (Prostitute Protection Act) are to be discussed with an open outcome once its evaluation is available.

The Greens want stricter checks on brothels. The rules for a license should get tougher. Customs officers should get more powers to check. This should make work safer for prostitutes. There should also be more help for people who want to leave.

Outreach support and counseling are to be expanded, especially for people leaving prostitution. Customs authorities would get broader powers so that legally required working conditions are met. Once the evaluation of the Prostitute Protection Act is complete, the federal government, states, municipalities, affected people and experts are to discuss needed changes together. Prostitutes should be neither stigmatized nor criminalized in the process.

The Greens call for women's quotas on supervisory and executive boards of large companies and a parity law for Bundestag elections. Their reasoning is that women make up more than half the population but hold far less economic and political power.

The Greens want more women in top jobs. Large companies should have fixed quotas. A quota is a fixed share. The Bundestag should also have as many women as men. A new law should make this happen.

The EU directive on leadership positions is to be implemented consistently in Germany. Companies that miss the targets would face sanctions. In the health sector, quotas and better working conditions are also meant to bring more women into leadership bodies. A parity law would apply to Bundestag elections.

The Greens want to remove self-determined abortions from the criminal code. In the early phase of pregnancy, abortion would be lawful. The party regards control over one's own body as a fundamental right.

The Greens want to take abortion out of criminal law. Early in a pregnancy, abortion should be legal. Counseling should be voluntary. Health insurers should pay the costs. There should be enough clinics close to home.

The party follows the recommendations of the expert commission on reproductive self-determination: lawful abortion in the early phase and a legal framework for the middle phase. Counseling would become voluntary, backed by a legal right and counseling centers run by various providers; the party rejects a mandatory waiting period. Health insurers would cover the costs, telemedicine would be expanded and access close to home secured. Breastfeeding in public would also be permitted by law, and health research, training and practice would pay more attention to women's health and midwife care.

The Greens want to add protection against discrimination based on sexual and gender identity to Article 3 of the Basic Law. The Selbstbestimmungsgesetz (Self-Determination Act) is to be kept and the action plan "Queer leben" made permanent. The party cites rising violence and discrimination against queer people.

The Greens want to protect queer people better. Queer people include lesbian, gay and trans people. This protection should be written into the constitution. The Self-Determination Act should stay. Health insurers should pay for treatments for trans people.

A federal funding program would provide money for the action plan and for queer counseling and project structures. Anti-queer crimes would be recorded better, and contact points in agencies and the justice system expanded. Health insurers would cover medical transition measures for everyone affected. Unnecessary surgeries on intersex children would be banned without loopholes, and gaps in the ban on conversion therapies closed. Past injustices against trans and intersex people, such as forced divorces, would be acknowledged. Also planned are access to reproductive medicine for all, better protection in the job market and services for older and young queer people.