Grüne on equality and diversity

The Greens want to set aside part of the money in all of the state's business support programs exclusively for women and disadvantaged groups. According to the program, these groups face higher hurdles in reaching leadership positions and starting companies.

Women and some groups have a harder time in business. So the Greens want to set aside money only for them. This should apply in all state support programs. They can still apply for the other funds too.

The reserved budget is to apply in every program, from start-up support to high-tech research. It is aimed at women, genderqueer people, people with disabilities and people with a migration background. These groups keep their access to the general funds as well. People who are marginalized in several ways are to receive special attention.

The Greens want lasting funding for queer youth work and long-term backing for queer centers in the state funding plan. The party sees them as points of contact for queer people across the regions.

Queer people are, for example, lesbian, gay or trans. The Greens want to pay for youth centers for queer young people on a lasting basis. There should also be such meeting places in the countryside.

Special attention would go to rural areas. Intersectionality, meaning the way several forms of disadvantage combine, would also be taken into account. The centers' work would be planned across regions and anchored in the state's funding plan.

The Greens want to permanently guarantee a state coordination office for rainbow families and staff it adequately. Training for employees in public agencies and counseling centers would be coordinated, because in the party's view such families still face exclusion.

In rainbow families, the parents are lesbian, gay or trans, for example. The Greens want a permanent state office for these families. They should get good advice there. Staff in public offices should learn more about these families.

The platform defines family as any place where children live or where people take lasting responsibility for one another. Rainbow families should be advised by trained people who know the different family set-ups and the legal hurdles they involve. Further training for staff in agencies and family counseling centers would be coordinated centrally.

The Greens want to make democracy education and anti-racism awareness work mandatory in the state's schools. Curricula and textbooks would deal more with colonial history, social diversity and critical use of social media. Teaching would also counter discrimination against gender and sexual minorities.

Schools should do more against racism and exclusion. This should be part of lesson plans and textbooks. Teachers should get regular training on it. People with a different sexual orientation should also be better protected.

The platform names racism, antisemitism and hostility toward gay and trans people as everyday realities that also affect schools. School staff would get regular training and guidance, including on gender-sensitive language. Programs such as "Schule ohne Rassismus – Schule mit Courage" and "Schule der Vielfalt" would grow and be tied to stricter criteria. Curricula would be revised so that sex education is free of discrimination. Students and teachers would be made more aware of hate and sexualized violence online.

The Greens want to create a state anti-discrimination law and a state anti-discrimination agency. People should be able to report unequal treatment by state institutions such as schools or the police and take legal action against it.

The Greens want a new law against discrimination. Discrimination means: someone is treated worse, for example because of their origin. People affected should be able to defend themselves better. Associations should be allowed to sue on their behalf. There should be more advice centers.

The law is to apply to areas under the state's responsibility. A right for associations to bring lawsuits would let affected people be represented by their organizations. The existing service centers for anti-discrimination work are to be expanded statewide. The new state agency is to represent these centers, educate the public, carry out its own studies on structural disadvantage and draw up policy recommendations. The law is also meant to give queer people and their associations access to legal remedies.

The Greens see the state as obliged to protect both the freedom to practice a faith and the freedom not to. Islamic communities are to be recognized if they meet the legal conditions, and Jewish life is to become more visible.

Everyone may live their faith or have no faith. The state should protect that. Islamic communities should be recognized if they meet the rules. The Greens want imams to be trained in NRW. They want to act against hatred of Jews.

Religious communities are expected to respect the basic principles of the constitution, take part in public debate and not act in a fundamentalist way, especially when they cooperate with the state. According to the program, the four large Muslim associations do not currently meet the requirements for recognition. Imam training in NRW and Muslim civic engagement are to be supported. Together with Jewish communities, the Greens want to enable encounters and exchange and to oppose antisemitism in all its forms.

The Greens want women to hold half of political power. A parity law is meant to ensure more women candidates in the 2027 state election, committees are to be at least half women, and the budget is to be assessed for its effects on the sexes.

The Greens want a parity law. That means: parties should put up more women for election. This should apply from the 2027 state election. At least half of committee members should be women. The state should check whether its money benefits women and men equally.

The parity law is to cover both state party lists and constituency candidates. Gender equality is treated as a cross-cutting task, with the concerns of all genders factored into every political decision. Through gender budgeting, meaning a review of spending for its effects on the sexes, public investment is to benefit everyone equally. Gender studies are also to be funded and expanded to close gaps in knowledge.

The Greens want women to receive equal pay for work of equal value, to be economically independent and to be secure in old age. Nursing and childcare professions are to be upgraded and childcare expanded.

Women should get the same pay for the same work. Jobs in nursing and childcare should be paid better. Mostly women work in these jobs. There should be more and better childcare places. That makes it easier to combine work and family.

The program calls for fair working conditions and equal pay in all occupational fields. Care professions, which according to the program are more than 70 percent female, are to be improved financially and structurally. The Greens want to use the state's policy options to improve women's economic situation. More and better places in home-based child care, daycare centers and all-day schooling are seen as the foundation.

The Greens want queer people in NRW to be able to live self-determined lives without exclusion. To that end, the action plan for queer life is to be developed further, counseling services expanded and hate crime tackled in a targeted way.

Queer people should be able to live without fear. Queer includes lesbian, gay and trans people, for example. The Greens want more counseling, also outside big cities. The police should take training on the topic. Victims of past persecution should receive compensation.

The action plan is to apply in all ministries and be anchored permanently as a cross-cutting task. Counseling, youth and senior services, psychosocial support and self-help groups are to be strengthened and given secure funding, especially outside the big cities. A strategy against hate crime is to include locally based contact points for victims and mandatory training for police. The history of persecution of queer people is to be examined, with compensation for victims and places of remembrance.

The Greens want long-term funding for women's shelters, counseling centers, and hotlines, and want to develop the support system further. It is to become more accessible and better reach children, genderqueer people, trans women, and male victims. Police and courts would prioritize violence against women and queer people.

The Greens want to protect women better from violence. Women's shelters and counseling centers should get steady funding. Children, queer people and men should also find the right help. Police and courts should handle these crimes faster.

Plans include expanding preventive work with perpetrators, an alliance against sexism, and confidential evidence collection close to home across the state. Clearing centers that guide women to suitable help around the clock would be tested as pilots. The coordination office against violence would be developed further and joined by monitoring of how the Istanbul Convention is being implemented. Services for male victims would grow with additional funds, without cutting into support for women. Intervention centers would get more money and be open to all victims of domestic violence.