SPD on equality and diversity

The SPD wants to firmly establish queer realities in education and raise awareness among students, parents and teachers. The platform's reason is that sexual orientation and gender diversity are often grounds for bullying and discrimination in schools.

The SPD wants queer topics to be part of school. Queer means, for example, gay, lesbian or trans people. Children, parents and teachers should learn more about this. This should lead to less bullying.

Children, young people, parents and teachers are to receive systematic awareness-raising and further training. Beyond that, the SPD plans targeted measures so that society as a whole develops more understanding of queer topics. The platform bases this on the diversity of society, which it says is also reflected among children and young people.

The SPD wants parliaments to be made up equally of women and men and will work on a constitutionally sound parity model for Lower Saxony. An SPD-led state government is to have equal numbers of women and men.

There are far fewer women than men in the state parliament. The SPD wants to change that. It wants to develop rules for this. The rules must fit the constitution. An SPD government should have as many women as men.

The platform cites shares of women of 30.7 percent in the Bundestag, 27.7 percent in the state parliament, and 27 percent in local councils. Because parity laws in Brandenburg and Thuringia were struck down by constitutional courts, a model for Lower Saxony is to be developed with constitutional law in mind. If legal changes are needed, the SPD says it will seek majorities for them. In parallel, mentoring programs, better compatibility of politics and private life, and women's networks are meant to help. The platform sees parties as responsible when drawing up their candidate lists.

The SPD wants to expand childcare for children under twelve and make it more flexible. Remote work is to be designed in a gender-equitable way so that women are not overburdened by paid work and family duties.

Parents should be able to combine work and family more easily. There should be more care for children under twelve. Working from home should not put extra strain on women. Further education should also be easier for parents.

The platform notes that working from home has become more important because of the COVID-19 pandemic and that family work is still done mostly by women. It stresses that couples need to negotiate a fair split of family tasks. Second-chance education programs are to be designed so that family duties do not stand in the way of further qualification.

The SPD wants to expand the support network for women affected by violence and give women's shelters reliable funding by law. It backs a nationwide legal right to a place in a shelter. Counseling for perpetrators is also to grow.

Women should be better protected from violence at home. Women's shelters should get secure funding. Every woman should have a right to a shelter place. Offenders should get counseling too. Police and courts should learn more about the issue.

Counseling centers, shelters for women and girls, and safe apartments are to be expanded and professionalized together with municipalities. Shelter funding is to be secured through the state's fiscal equalization law. The state's third action plan (Landesaktionsplan III) is to be developed further, also with a view to children who witness violence. Police and the judiciary will receive training and are to work more closely with local protection services. The principle "whoever hits, leaves" is to be applied consistently through removal orders.

The SPD wants to develop Lower Saxony's Equal Opportunities Act further, with binding equality plans and sanctions. Half of the leadership positions in the state administration are to be held by women.

Women should have equal chances in state agencies. Every agency should get a fixed plan for this. The head of the agency is responsible. Half of the bosses should be women. Women should also have a say in planning cities and transit.

The plan includes mandatory equality plans in agencies, direct responsibility of agency heads, and sanctions if targets are missed. The share of women in leadership roles is to be evaluated and monitored, including in companies in which the state holds a stake. Care duties of men and women are to be given appropriate weight in assessments for higher positions. As urban development, housing, and mobility change, women's perspectives are to be brought in through participation processes, for example on transit schedules and safety at stops.

The SPD wants to remove the word “Rasse” (race) from the constitution of Lower Saxony. In addition, the public and the police are to be made more aware of everyday racism and antisemitism.

The constitution of Lower Saxony contains the word “race.” The SPD wants to delete this word. People should get better at noticing everyday racism. This also applies to the police.

The platform justifies the deletion by saying the constitution is the basis of living together. The SPD wants to raise awareness of everyday racism and everyday antisemitism. Awareness is also to grow within the police so that hate speech is detected more often.

The SPD wants to pursue hate crime more consistently, especially against queer people. To this end, such offenses are to be fully recorded in statistics, weigh more heavily in sentencing, and be better recognized by the police.

Some people are attacked because they are queer. Queer means, for example, lesbian, gay or trans. The SPD wants to pursue these crimes more strictly. The police should spot and count them better.

The platform names three steps. Section 46 of the Criminal Code, which sets out sentencing principles, is to be extended to cover politically or ideologically motivated hate crime. Hate crime in Lower Saxony is to appear fully in the statistics. Police officers are to be trained so that they recognize hate crimes against LGBTIQ* people even when victims do not out themselves.

The SPD wants to increase the share of women in local politics. To this end, shared mandates and parental leave for officeholders are to be anchored in law.

Few women sit on local councils. The SPD wants to change that. Two people should be able to share one seat. Parental leave should also be possible on the council.

Mandate sharing, meaning splitting a local council seat, and parental leave in local offices are to be given a legal basis. The SPD wants to continue support programs such as “Frau.Macht.Demokratie.” The goal is stronger representation of women in local bodies.

The SPD wants to achieve accessibility in all areas and strengthen the participation of people with disabilities, including in the regular labor market. A state competence center is to advise public agencies and businesses, and more accessibility is to be demanded of private companies.

People with disabilities should be able to take part everywhere. So the SPD wants to remove barriers. A new state center will advise agencies and companies on this. Private companies should also do more for accessibility. People with disabilities should find regular jobs more easily.

The platform points to the revised state disability equality law, which requires public bodies to build accessibly. The state budget provides 2.6 billion euros to support people with disabilities. When the inclusion plans are updated, people affected are to be involved alongside associations. The SPD relies on support services such as sign language interpreting and personal assistance. In integration assistance, all services are to be oriented toward the local community, and outpatient and mobile services are to be funded.

The SPD wants to add sexual and gender identity to the anti-discrimination clause of the state constitution. A state action plan against homophobia, transphobia and hostility toward queer people is to be launched, and queer centers and associations are to receive support.

The SPD wants to protect queer people better. Queer people include lesbians, gay men and trans people. The state constitution should name their protection clearly. A state plan should help against hate and violence. Queer centers should get support.

The party wants to work for legal and social equality and visibility of the LGBTIQ* community. It intends to oppose discrimination, violence and hate crime against queer people. An SPD-led state government is to initiate and implement the action plan. According to the platform, volunteer associations from the community carry out a large share of queer education and counseling work. Existing queer centers are to be preserved and new ones founded.