Around 60 equal opportunities officers from all over NRW came to the Old Town Hall in Bonn on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, for their general meeting. The LAG NRW had chosen Bonn as the venue as the City of Bonn's Equal Opportunities Office will be celebrating its 40th anniversary in October 2024. At the end of August 1984, Bonn City Council had already decided to set up an Equal Opportunities Office - the fourth municipality in Germany to do so. On October 15, 1984, the city of Bonn appointed its first Equal Opportunities Officer.
Mayor Katja Dörner welcomed the participants to the Old Town Hall and addressed the special year 2024 for Bonn in her speech: 75 years of the Basic Law, 200 years of Beuel's Weiberfastnacht and 40 years of Bonn's Equal Opportunities Office - all important dates for women's achievements for more participation and justice.
The city archives had brought the first Golden Book of the City of Bonn to the Old Town Hall especially for the general meeting. The participants were able to see the page with the entry of the Parliamentary Council in May 1949, including the signatures of the four "mothers of the Basic Law": Friederike Nadig, Elisabeth Selbert, Helene Weber and Helene Wessel had contributed to an important milestone for gender equality with the inclusion of Article 3 in the Basic Law in 1949 - "Men and women have equal rights".
Gender equality issues in 1984 and 2024
Bonn's Equal Opportunities Officer Stephanie Clemens-Krämer welcomed her colleagues and talked about the 40th anniversary of the Equal Opportunities Office and compared the years 1984 and 2024: "In 1984, the first Equal Opportunities Officer first had to define her area of work and the facilities were manageable: a separate area on the eleventh floor of the City Hall," said the Bonn Equal Opportunities Officer. Today, the Equal Opportunities Office at Bertha-von-Suttner-Platz offers a comprehensive range of advisory services for employees and the city community.
The most pressing issues in 1984 were women's employment and education, the compatibility of family and career, securing women's material existence and increasing the number of women in management positions. But violence against women, especially in the domestic environment, was also an issue. "These are all topics that still play an important role in the work of the Equal Opportunities Office today," emphasized the Bonn Equal Opportunities Officer. She thanked her three predecessors for their consistent work. Today, the proportion of female heads of office in Bonn's city administration is 44 percent; in 1994, there was only one female head of office.
Today's equality work is about all genders and the abolition of gender stereotypes and discrimination based on gender. For example, the Equal Opportunities Office team is increasingly working on measures to reconcile life and work in order to increase the proportion of men working part-time at the City of Bonn and taking on parental and care leave. To this end, an internal contact point for men/fathers and a care contact point have been set up for employees.
Istanbul Convention and gender-specific medicine
Birgit Wehrhöfer, Head of the Equal Opportunities Department of the Ministry for Children, Youth, Family, Equality, Refugees and Integration NRW (MKJFGFI), then gave the equal opportunities officers a report from the ministry via video link. Sandra Pavek, Specialist and Coordination Office Istanbul Convention of the MKJFGFI, was also connected online to present the Specialist and Coordination Office and give a report on the implementation of the Istanbul Convention. The Istanbul Convention (IC) is another name for the Council of Europe Convention on the Elimination of Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.
The main topic of the general meeting was "gender-specific medicine". The equal opportunities officers discussed a keynote speech on the topic of "Hospital planning and the impact on the structure of care in obstetrics". Andrea Köbke from the German Midwives' Association (HBV) gave an insight into their work. The speakers of the LAG NRW then reported on their activities and working groups, on past, current and planned activities and presented the annual plan for 2025. At the end of the event, there was room for discussion and networking. The supporting program included a visit to the Bonn Women's Museum.
About the regional working group
The LAG NRW is an association of equal opportunities officers in North Rhine-Westphalia. In 2023, the LAG celebrated its 35th anniversary and is the state working group with the largest membership in Germany. The LAG promotes cooperation and exchange between municipal Equal Opportunities Offices in order to develop joint strategies and measures. It represents the interests of municipal Equal Opportunities Offices vis-à-vis the state government and other relevant institutions.