Equality: Being on the left does not protect against sexism

Athe left of all things! Ironically, a feminist party has a problem with sexism! Look! When reports of sexual harassment and other assaults in the Hessian state association of the Left Party recently revealed not only a structural problem within the party, but also the years of inadequate fight against sexism in their own ranks, the connection, which was partly dominated by malice and partly by outrage, was not far: sexism among the left is particularly bad because it occurs in a party that sees equality as a pillar of its politics. As obvious as the idea is, it leads to a sideshow. Because he primarily addresses left-wing double standards – and not sexism.

Voters are particularly sensitive to double standards in politics because they expect – rightly so – that the demands made by politicians will be met by themselves. Especially when it affects those politicians who are very aggressive about a topic. It’s not always about things that, on closer inspection, are rather trivial. When a minister of education and research, of all people, has to give up her academic title because of unclean work, that weighs particularly heavily. Non-marital children are particularly problematic for those politicians who advocate the traditional family image. And it doesn’t go down well when politicians, of all people, who often and happily demand higher taxes for higher earners, leave the tax office in the dark about their second home.

But at the latest when someone is harmed, the indignation about double standards should not override that about the offense as such. This is the case, for example, when politicians obtain corona vaccinations at the expense of vulnerable people. And even if women in a self-described feminist party cannot feel safe from attacks. But that doesn’t make sexism on the left any more condemnable. Or, to put it another way: The problem in other parties does not become any less serious as a result.

Anyone who believed that left-wing parties were immune was naïve

The idea that one sex is naturally superior to the other and that discrimination, oppression, devaluation and disadvantage are somehow justified as a result no longer has any place in Germany. That’s the theory. But structures that are thousands of years old cannot simply be broken up. As a reminder, it is only 25 years since marital rape was a criminal offense. In the vote in the Bundestag, 138 MPs from the CDU, CSU and FDP voted against – including women.

Sexism still exists today in different forms in every party – and this is equally problematic in every party. But anyone who believed that left-wing parties were immune was naïve.

Even the Greens, and thus the party that has its roots in the women’s movement and without whose tenacity many achievements in gender equality policy would have come much later, are not free from sexism. The reigns of Gerhard Schröder and Joschka Fischer are now seen as the era of the machos, in which female cabinet members hardly had a say and women’s politics were known as “Gedöns”. The beginnings of the Left Party date back to that time.

After the SPD became the strongest force again in the federal elections in autumn 16 years after the end of the Schröder era, many social democratic women feared that the entire head of state – Federal President, Bundestag President, Chancellor – could be filled with men. The incumbent Chancellor Scholz had described himself as a feminist during the election campaign, one can confidently assume that he is aware of the problem. But despite much lip service, the SPD has failed to politically develop women to the same extent as men. Surprising? Absolutely not. It took the Social Democrats almost 155 years to elect a woman to lead them – and externally, men still dominate the party. Awareness of the problem alone does not protect against failed politics.

The left wants to draw consequences from the misconduct in its own ranks. At the party conference in June, the entire board is to be re-elected. Last week, the party set up a commission that those affected can turn to. The coming months will show whether the measures are sufficient and turn out as one could wish for from a party. Not explicitly from a feminist party, but from a party in a democratic, liberal and progressive country that Germany sees itself as.