Linke on equality and diversity

The Left wants to turn the Entgelttransparenzgesetz (Pay Transparency Act) into an equal pay law that enforces equal pay for work of equal value. Pay gaps affecting women and workers with a migration background are to disappear.

Women often earn less than men. People with a migration background often earn less too. The Left wants to change this with a law. Work of equal value should get equal pay. Unions should be allowed to sue on behalf of those affected.

Companies would be required to reduce unequal valuations of work step by step and across industries. Work with people should not be rated lower than work with machines, and job experience should count the same as formal qualifications. Equal pay would also apply regardless of gender identity. Unions would get the right to bring collective lawsuits so that individuals do not have to go to court alone.

The Left wants election law to require that half of all list positions and seats go to women. In addition, new laws would be checked for their effects on gender equality.

The Left wants more women in parliaments. Half of the places on party lists should go to women. Half of the seats should also go to women. This should be written into election law.

The rule would apply to public elections and cover both lists and seats. The federal government would adopt a long-term equality strategy across all ministries. Every new law would be examined for its impact on gender equity. March 8 would become a nationwide public holiday.

The Left wants to remove abortion from the criminal code and treat it as a regular medical service. Counseling would be voluntary, and health insurers would pay for contraception.

Abortion is in the criminal law today. The Left wants to delete this rule. Counseling should be voluntary. Health insurance should pay for all birth control.

Care for women with unwanted pregnancies is to improve nationwide. Obstetric care should be available close to home everywhere so that a choice of where to give birth remains possible. Fertility treatment would be open to everyone regardless of relationship status, sexual orientation or gender identity, and at least partly paid by statutory insurers. Self-employed women would get statutory maternity protection with benefits. Public institutions would provide menstrual products free of charge.

The Left wants to fully implement the Istanbul Convention on violence against women and fund women's shelters permanently. In sexual offense law, the principle "only yes means yes" would apply.

The Left wants to protect women better from violence. Women's shelters should get secure funding. Protection and counseling should be free. For sex, the rule should be: only yes means yes.

The coordination office for the convention would start work, and the overall strategy against violence against women would be carried out. Protection and counseling would be free, anonymous and accessible everywhere. Custody and visitation law would make clear that protection from violence comes first. Networks of sexualized violence would be targeted. The occupational safety law would be extended to cover violence and sexual harassment.

The Left wants to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the equality article of the Basic Law. It also wants improvements to the Self-Determination Act, a reform of parentage law and guaranteed health care.

The Left wants to protect queer people better. The constitution should name this protection. Families with two mothers or two fathers should get equal rights. Health insurance should pay for needed treatment.

In the Self-Determination Act, special rules for wartime and exclusions such as those for refugees would be removed. The plan includes a funded "Queer leben" action plan, a federal anti-discrimination law and a reform of the General Equal Treatment Act. Queer youth work would become a mandatory municipal task, and queer venues would be protected from high rents and funding cuts. Care for trans people would be guaranteed by law and paid by insurers, with better access to PrEP and hormones.

The Left wants to strengthen the rights of Germany's four recognized minorities and write them into the constitution. They should be able to use their languages with government offices and in court.

Germany has four recognized minorities. The Left wants to write their rights into the constitution. They should be allowed to speak their language at government offices. This should also apply in court.

The right to use one's mother tongue in court, which Sorbs and Wends already have, would be extended to the Danish and Frisian minorities. The post of federal commissioner against antiziganism would be kept. Crimes against Sinti and Roma would be given appropriate space in remembrance. Their renewed persecution after 1945 would also be examined.

The Left wants a federal law to strengthen the participation of people with a migration background. A quota would bring their share in public administration in line with their share of the population. Quotas for disadvantaged groups would also apply in the private sector, politics, culture and the media.

The Left wants a new law for more participation. More people with a migration background should work in public offices. A quota should make sure of that. A quota is a fixed share. There should also be quotas in companies, politics and the media.

A participation council would be consulted on major decisions in business, science and politics, and migrant self-organizations would be represented on it. The quotas would cover groups that face discrimination, such as people affected by racism. They would also apply to all publicly funded institutions. The party wants permanent funding for anti-discrimination initiatives, refugee councils and migrant associations through a Demokratiefördergesetz (democracy promotion act).

The Left wants to expand legal protection against racism. This includes reforming the Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz (General Equal Treatment Act), banning racial profiling by police and adding a protection clause to the constitution. A separate federal ministry would be responsible for migration.

The Left wants more laws against racism. Police should not check people because of how they look. Checks without a reason should end. There should be a separate ministry for migration.

The equal treatment act would get longer deadlines for lawsuits, a right for associations to sue, and additional grounds such as nationality, residence status, and family and social status, and it would also cover state action. Institutional and structural racism would be clearly defined. Police powers to carry out checks without cause would be removed, and anti-discrimination training would be mandatory throughout the public service. A ministry for migration and participation would take over responsibility from the interior ministry. Article 3 of the constitution would gain a protection and promotion clause, and a commissioner for Muslim life would be created.

The Left wants full accessibility everywhere and would legally require private businesses to provide it too. Learning should be inclusive in all educational institutions. In the party's view, separate special structures for people with disabilities violate human dignity.

All places and services should be usable without barriers. That should also be a duty for private companies. Children with and without disabilities should learn together. Associations should be able to sue against discrimination.

Private providers of publicly available goods and services would be required to be accessible under the equal treatment act and the disability equality act. Associations could sue even when no individual affected person does. Special-needs schools would be restructured and regular schools would get special education staff; vocational and continuing education would also be inclusive. Health and nursing care close to home would become a mandatory task for municipalities. The party backs a Bundestag study commission on social inclusion.