SPD on equality and diversity

The SPD wants to protect people with disabilities from discrimination by law and expand their participation in education, leisure and work. The state action plan under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is to be developed further and the accessibility fund continued. Wherever possible, the goal is employment in the regular labor market.

The SPD wants to protect people with disabilities better from unfair treatment. Schools, day care centers and youth clubs should be free of barriers. More people with disabilities should find work in regular companies. Pay in sheltered workshops should go up.

For day care centers, the SPD aims for an inclusion rate as high as in schools; school aides, school assistants and school social work are to be expanded and linked, and all educational institutions are to become accessible. The state is to invest in accessible youth facilities and secure funding for inclusive leisure activities. For the labor market, the platform lists higher pay in sheltered workshops, training places, qualification, help for employers, support for integration companies and a higher employment rate. Separate measures are planned against multiple discrimination, for example of women and girls with disabilities. People with hearing impairments are to get regulated cost coverage for sign language interpreting, and there are to be more accessible polling places.

The SPD wants a statewide gender equality strategy with goals and measures for the government and its agencies. Among other things, it is meant to narrow the pay gap between women and men, upgrade social and care professions and strengthen equal opportunity officers.

On average, women earn less than men. The SPD wants to change that. The state should get a plan for equality. Equal opportunity officers should get more support.

Ministries are to take steps against the gender pay gap, which the platform puts at 18 percent for 2020. The state budget is to be designed so that money benefits both sexes equally. The "Frau und Beruf" (Women and Work) program is to be reviewed and developed further, and study and career counseling for young women strengthened. In places with 10,000 or more residents, equal opportunity officers are generally to work full-time as paid staff. Free hygiene products at schools and universities and a review of the pandemic's effects on women are also part of the plan.

The SPD wants to set up a statewide, accessible program against domestic and sexual violence. In addition, a coordinating women's counseling center against online violence is to be created. The platform points to gaps in the existing support system.

Many women face violence at home or online. The SPD wants a program against this for the whole state. There should be a new counseling center against online violence. Children who see violence at home should also get help.

The guiding framework is the Istanbul Convention, a Council of Europe treaty on violence against women. According to a needs analysis initiated in the state parliament, good support exists but not everywhere and not with enough funding. Flagship projects on prevention and protection are to be funded in rural areas. The new center against digital violence is to back up existing women's counseling centers so that there are contact persons in every county. Support for children who witness violence between adults is to be strengthened.

The SPD wants to push for an amendment to the Basic Law (Germany's constitution) to make parity laws possible, which would fill parliaments equally with women and men. A state cabinet led by the SPD is to be half women.

There are more men than women in parliaments. The SPD wants to change that. For this, the constitution should be changed. In an SPD government, half of the minister posts should go to women.

The platform notes that no German parliament has a gender quota and wants to end this situation. The constitutional amendment is meant to create the legal basis for a parity law. The SPD also commits to removing structural barriers that make it harder for women to reach political offices and seats, at all levels.

The SPD wants to create more places in women's shelters, cover their costs in full and assign more staff per resident. Every county and independent city is to have a women's shelter. Other counseling centers are to be strengthened as well.

Women's shelters protect women from violence. The SPD says there are too few places. It wants more places and more staff. The state should pay the costs.

Actual rent and operating costs are to be covered in full and the number of places raised in line with the needs analysis. The state is to pay for travel to a shelter so that women in rural areas can reach one, and to provide publicly owned apartments. Minimum capacities per population are to apply to women's counseling centers, and shelters are to be accessible. Counseling for refugee and homeless women, for sex workers and for men is also to be strengthened. An action plan is meant to counter human trafficking and forced prostitution.

The SPD wants equal rights for same-sex married couples, especially in adoption, and equal treatment of queer people under the law. The state action plan against transphobia and homophobia is to be continued and expanded. The party rejects bans on gender-inclusive language.

The SPD wants equal rights for queer people. Same-sex couples should be treated equally in adoption. A plan against hostility should continue. The SPD is against bans on gender-inclusive language.

The "Echte Vielfalt" (True Diversity) office is to be strengthened as a statewide contact and networking hub, and the state administration is to get a central point of responsibility for LGBTIQ* issues. Diverse family forms are to appear in state publications, civic education and teaching materials. Teachers and childcare staff are to receive gender-sensitive training. The SPD does not want to set rules for private language use. It expects government bodies to use language that addresses everyone.

The SPD wants gender-inclusive language in school not to be marked as an error, without imposing rules on schools about using it. Teaching staff should decide for themselves whether to wear religious symbols such as a headscarf, as long as the face remains visible.

Some pupils write in a gender-inclusive way. The SPD wants this not to count as a mistake. But schools do not have to use it. Teachers may decide for themselves about wearing a headscarf. Their face must stay visible.

In the SPD's view, inclusive language is not a spelling issue but an expression of political awareness. Together with schools, it wants to make sure nonbinary pupils can attend school free of discrimination. Teaching staff should reflect society's diversity. The SPD understands state neutrality to mean that the state leaves the decision about religious symbols to employees. Apart from medically necessary masks, communication through facial expressions must remain possible.

The SPD wants to continue funding for minorities and ethnic groups in Schleswig-Holstein and extend long-term planning security to the Sinti and Roma as well. The platform sees the state's cultural diversity as a strength and the minorities as bridge-builders in the border region.

Several minorities live in Schleswig-Holstein. They include Frisians, Danes, and Sinti and Roma. The SPD wants to keep supporting them with money. The funding should be secure for a long time. This should also apply to Sinti and Roma.

Municipalities, local authorities, counties and ministries are to play a larger part in minority policy and stay in dialogue with each other and with the funding bodies. Schools of the Danish minority, as public schools, are to have access to all federal and state funding programs. The SPD wants to keep supporting the Frisian Foundation and the new Minority Competence Center. It wants to step up efforts against antiziganism and implement the updated EU Roma strategy in the state. At the European level, it backs the demands of the "Minority SafePack" citizens' initiative for more firmly anchored minority rights.

The SPD wants to continue the fight against antisemitism and ensure support for victims of antisemitic acts. For antiziganist incidents, it wants to examine statewide monitoring and secure counseling and prevention there as well.

The SPD wants to protect Jewish people in the state better. Victims of hatred against Jews should get help. Sinti and Roma face hatred too. The SPD wants to check whether the state can count such incidents. They should get counseling as well.

The party supports the statewide antisemitism information and documentation center (LIDA-SH) and names the office of the commissioner for Jewish life, the Jewish communities and civil society as key actors. Antisemitic prejudices and conspiracy narratives are to be exposed, including online, which the platform says often lays the groundwork for violence. On antiziganism, meaning racism against Sinti and Roma, the SPD will examine statewide monitoring. Those affected are to have counseling, along with more preventive work.

The SPD wants to create a state anti-discrimination law in Schleswig-Holstein to support and legally protect people affected by discrimination. Diversity is also to become more visible in politics, for example by making it a criterion for public funding of political work.

Some people are treated worse, for example because of where they come from. This is called discrimination. The SPD wants a new state law against it. The law should protect those affected. Diversity should also count more in politics.

The law is meant to give people who experience discrimination concrete support and legal protection. Institutionalized work for equality and against discrimination is to be advanced. Money from public funding for political work is to be tied to the criterion of diversity. According to the platform, every person should decide on their own faith and gender and be able to live accordingly everywhere.