German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that men also have a role to play in improving gender equality. She noted that while the country has made progress on the issue, there is still work to be done.
Image: Reuters/A. Schmidt
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Gender equality is an issue for men, not just women, Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her weekly video podcast published on Saturday.
"Because we can only achieve equal participation of women in working life if men are involved with homemaking, support, care and also the upbringing of children," she said.
Merkel stressed that enforcing equality remains a major issue in Germany, noting the gap between working men and women. "Today, 76% of working-age women are employed," Merkel said. "That is significantly more than a few years ago, but still less than that for men of the same age. It is 84% there."
Where women rule the country
There are 195 independent states in the world — and the vast majority are ruled by men. Female heads of government or state are rare, but those in power are strong leaders. DW takes a look at some powerful politicians.
Image: Reuters/Lehtikuva/V. Moilanen
Sanna Marin
The 34-year-old Sanna Marin was elected by her party in December 2019 to serve as Finland's prime minister after Antti Rinne resigned over fallout from a postal strike. Once she is sworn in, set for mid-December, she will become one of the world's youngest head's of states. She previously served as her country's transport minister.
Image: Reuters/Lehtikuva/V. Moilanen
Jacinda Arden
Since October 2017, Jacinda Arden has served as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand. She took office at the age of 37. She is also only the second woman to give birth while in office. Arden is regarded as one of the world's most powerful women and was praised internationally for her response to the Christchurch terror attacks in 2019.
Image: AFP/Getty Images/S. Keith
Jeanine Anez
After Evo Morales resigned as Bolivia's president in November 2019, the 52-year-old Jeanine Anez became the interim leader of the country. Previously a vice president of the Senate, she has said she would like to try to schedule fresh elections as soon as possible. She is politically right-wing.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/J. Karita
Sophie Wilmes
After serving as Belgium's budget minister, Sohpie Wilmes became the country's prime minister — and its first female one — in late October 2019. The 44-year-old has a tough task before her: scraping together a majority from a highly fragmented national parliament. She belongs to the French-speaking liberal-centrist MR party.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Belga/V. Lefour
Zuzana Caputova
Slovakia elected Zuzana Caputova as its first female president in March 2019. She took office in June, also becoming the youngest-ever president at age 45. Her political views are marked by her strong environmentalism and her determination to weed out corruption in the central European state. Prior to becoming president, she had not held an elected political office.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/D. Gluck
Angela Merkel
The 65-year-old was appointed chancellor in 2005 — the country's first female head of government — and is currently serving her fourth term as Germany's leader. The pastor's daughter from communist East Germany and chemistry doctorate was named "Person of the Year 2015" by Time magazine. Her term is scheduled to end in 2021, and she has said she will not pursue the chancellor position again.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O.Hoslet
Sahle-Work Zewde
The 69-yeaer-old Sahle-Work Zewde was elected unanimously by the members of Ethiopia's parliament to serve as the country's 5th president. She is the first woman to fill the role, though the role is largely ceremonial. However, as of 2019, she is Africa's only serving head of state. A career diplomat, she had previously held various high-level positions in the UN.
Image: Reuters/C. Allegri
Tsai Ing-wen
Tsai Ing-Wen is the first woman to serve as president of the Republic of China, more commonly known as Taiwan. Her inauguration in May 2016 led Beijing to freeze official relations with the small island, which the mainland claims can never be independent. Tsai has made it clear she will not "bow to pressure" over the issue of sovereignty. She has announced she will run for reelection in 2020.
Image: Reuters/T. Siu
Erna Solberg
Norway, too, is governed by a woman. Erna Solberg took office in 2013. The 58-year-old is the wealthy northern country's second female prime minister, after Gro Harlem Brundtland, who held the position in the 80s and 90s. Her tough asylum policies earned her the nickname "Iron Erna." She also heads up Norway's Conservative Party.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/V. Wivestad Groett
Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila
The 52-year-old, Namibia's fourth prime minister, has been in office since 2015. Kuugongelwa-Amadhila went into exile in Sierra Leone as a young teenager. She pursued higher education in the US, graduating with a degree in economics before returning home in 1994, where she began working in politics. She is the first woman to head Namibia's government and a strong proponent of women's rights.
Image: Imago/X. Afrika
Sheikh Hasina
Sheikh Hasina is the 10th and longest serving prime minister in the history of Bangladesh. Before her current term, which began in 2009, she also held the office from 1996-2001. Forbes business magazine listed the 72-year-old on its list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Bildfunk
Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic
The 51-year-old held several government positions and represented Croatia as ambassador to the United States before she was elected in 2015 as the country's first woman president, and its youngest. Grabar-Kitarovic's position from 2011 to 2014 as assistant secretary general for public diplomacy at NATO makes her the highest-ranking female ever within NATO's administrative team.
Image: Reuters/D. Sagolj
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The remarks came ahead of International Women's Day on Sunday.
The federal government wants to be a role model in this regard, Merkel said. As part of the so-called second leadership position law, state-owned or majority state-owned companies are supposed to have boards that consist of an equal number of women and men by 2025.
However, Merkel noted that Germany had made some significant strides in tackling inequality, including work-life balance issues such as parental leave. A larger proportion of men take advantage of parental leave today than a few years ago, she said.
"And it must be a matter of course that men who are homemakers have the same career opportunities as others who may not do so to the same extent," Merkel said.
