SPD on equality and diversity

The SPD wants women and men in Berlin to be paid equally. To that end, the EU Pay Transparency Directive is to be written into German law.

Women often earn less than men. The SPD wants to change that. The EU has a rule on this. This rule should become law in Germany too.

The platform points out that European law already provides the basis for equal pay. The SPD wants to push for the Pay Transparency Directive to be implemented in Germany. Its stated goal is company cultures in which all genders have the same opportunities to fulfill their potential.

The SPD wants urban development to reflect different life situations and to make gender mainstreaming a fixed standard in planning and contract awards. A dedicated coordination office modeled on Vienna is to anchor this permanently in the administration.

The SPD wants to plan the city for everyone. The city should always look at the needs of women and men equally. Streets and squares should be safe and free of barriers. A new office in the administration will take care of this. The model is the city of Vienna.

The platform calls this feminist urban planning. Public space is to be designed to be accessible, safe and based on actual needs. Gender mainstreaming, meaning a check of how plans affect all genders, is to apply as a rule to planning and contract awards for projects. A coordination office for everyday-oriented and gender-equitable planning and building is to be set up, following the example of Vienna.

The SPD wants stronger protection for women and children against violence. Police would use standardized analyses to spot high-risk cases early, and women's shelters, safe apartments and violence protection clinics would be expanded across the city.

The SPD wants to protect women and children better from violence. Police should spot dangerous cases earlier. There should be more women's shelters and safe apartments. Money for these places should be secure for longer.

The Istanbul Convention, a European treaty against violence toward women, is to be implemented. Shelters would get longer-term institutional funding instead of project grants. Health insurers should cover confidential forensic evidence collection. At the federal level, the SPD wants protection from violence to take priority over a violent parent's visitation rights. An independent office against sexual violence toward children and teens would be set up. For safety in public spaces, the program lists lit transit stops, staffed stations, more BVG patrols and a walk-home phone line.

The SPD wants Berlin to push in the Bundesrat for new abortion legislation that no longer makes it a criminal matter. It also wants to restart the funding program for fertility treatment and open it to all family models.

Abortion is covered by criminal law today. The SPD wants to change that. Berlin should push for this in the Bundesrat. Couples who want a child should again get money for treatment.

According to the program, the new rules should decriminalize abortion and be free of discrimination. The assisted reproduction funding program is aimed at couples who have been unable to have children. When relaunched, it is to include all family models.

The SPD wants an anti-bullying team at every school and a revision of curricula and learning materials with regard to queerness, racism and colonialism. Refugee children are to attend regular schools. An independent complaints office for schools and daycare is to be set up at the parliament.

Every school should get a team against bullying. Curricula and school books should be revised. They should not put anyone at a disadvantage. Refugee children should go to regular schools. There should be an independent office for complaints.

Multi-professional teams are to grow, for example through more positions for school social workers, school psychologists, classroom aides and educators. Refugee children are to move into regular classes after one year at the latest. Training on discrimination, racism and postcolonialism is to be strengthened. Mandatory modules on recognizing discrimination are to become part of training for educational staff.

The SPD wants a parity law for Berlin so that the state parliament has as many women as men. People with a "diverse" or deleted gender entry are also to be taken into account. In the Bundesrat it wants to push for electoral law based on parity.

The SPD wants a new law for Berlin. The Berlin parliament should have as many women as men. The law should also consider non-binary people. The SPD wants this for all of Germany too.

The program justifies the plan with equal opportunities for all genders in politics, business and society. At the federal level, the SPD wants to press for a similar rule and to initiate a parity-based electoral reform in the Bundesrat. It intends to fill its own posts in the Senate, administration, parliamentary group, supervisory boards and state-owned companies equally with women and men.

The SPD wants to revise the Landesgleichstellungsgesetz (state equality act) and extend it to trans, inter and non-binary people. Women's and equality officers are to get more rights. Facilities and projects for women are to be secured and funded according to need.

Berlin has a law for the equality of women. The SPD wants to update this law. It should also cover trans, inter and non-binary people. Women's officers should get more rights. Projects for women should get enough money.

The equality policy framework program and the advisory council on women's policy are to be expanded. Gender budgeting, meaning the review of the state budget for its effects on the genders, will continue. Intersectional equality policy is to be anchored as a cross-cutting task in all laws. The SPD counts the mostly non-profit women's associations as an essential public service and wants to strengthen them as a counterweight to antifeminism. Equal pay for equal and equivalent work is to apply to grants and public contracts.

The SPD wants to strengthen the ombuds office under the Landesantidiskriminierungsgesetz (state anti-discrimination act) and bundle all anti-discrimination measures in one state plan. An independent commissioner is to coordinate this. In the program's view, the administration should lead in protecting diversity.

Berlin has a law against discrimination by public offices. One office helps people affected. The SPD wants to give this office more rights. One shared plan should link all measures. Public staff should get training.

The ombuds office is to be able to act on its own initiative and question people, and must report; an independent complaints office is added for schools. New laws are to be checked for compatibility with the LADG and the LGBG. More counseling centers, a diversity coordination office and mandatory staff training are planned. The SPD supports gender-inclusive administrative language and rejects a ban on special characters; AI systems must not disadvantage anyone. The state program for democracy and diversity is to grow and be anchored in a democracy promotion act. For non-religious people, it seeks humanist counseling in hospitals, the justice system, police and fire service.

The SPD wants to implement, develop and financially secure the 2023 LGBTIQ+ action plan. The Basic Law is to explicitly ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. At the federal level it wants to defend the Selbstbestimmungsgesetz (Self-Determination Act) and achieve equality for rainbow families.

The SPD wants to protect queer people better. Queer means, for example, lesbian, gay or trans. Every district should get a queer officer. There should be more safe places and shelters. The constitution should ban discrimination because of who people love.

Queer officers are to work in all districts; the administration's rainbow network will be expanded, and transition guidelines are to help trans, inter and non-binary state employees. Queer youth centers, rainbow family centers, contact points, shelters and emergency housing are to be secured and extended. The SPD wants to anchor queer perspectives in education, youth and family policy by law, including a youth forum and training. A state plan is to protect queer venues, and a fund is to give attacked venues easy access to help. The state strategy for queer safety is to be implemented and properly resourced.