Merz's new cabinet: bigger, older and fewer women on board!

Merz's new cabinet: bigger, older and fewer women on board!

In today's political landscape of Germany, the new cabinet under the leadership of Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) has learned a number of changes. This cabinet conversion not only brings with it an additional ministry, but also a restructuring of the existing departments. The federal government is expanded from 17 to 18 members, which is due to the creation of the Federal Ministry of Digitization and State Modernization. This reports the Badische Latest news .

The Ministry of Education and Research is redistributed. Karin Prien (CDU) takes responsibility for education and family, while Dorothee Bär (CSU) will be responsible for research and space travel in the future. In addition, the Ministry of Economic Affairs to the Ministry of Economic Affairs is relocated to the Ministry of Economic Affairs under Carsten Schneider (SPD). Interestingly, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) remains in the cabinet, while all other SPD politicians have not received any posts from the elected traffic light coalition.

age and gender distribution in the cabinet

The average age of the new federal government is 53.1 years, which is an increase of almost three years compared to the previous traffic light government. Friedrich Merz is the oldest minister in the cabinet at the age of 69. In contrast, Reem Alabali-Radovan (35, SPD) and Verena Hubertz (37, SPD) are the youngest members. The sunken proportion of women is particularly striking: With only eight women in a cabinet of 18 members, the proportion of female leaders is only 44.4 percent, which is a step backwards compared to previous governments.

In the SPD, four of the seven ministries are occupied by women, while the Union only records four female members among its eleven cabinet members. Friedrich Merz has therefore recognized the need to increase the proportion of women in his parliamentary group. The proportion of women in the CDU parliamentary group is currently 25 percent, as the ZDF news Merz has promised to promote a stronger presence of women in future cabinets. The proposal by Julia Klöckner to introduce a quota for women in the cabinet is supported by him.

Women's proportion in parliament and in society

Overall, the proportion of women in German parliaments is quite different among the various parties. While the AfD has a share of 11.8 percent, the CDU has a share of 22.6 percent, the CSU even 25 percent. The SPD, on the other hand, shows a significantly higher representation of women with 41.7 percent. The shares for the left are particularly striking with 56.2 percent and the Greens with 61.2 percent. Such statistics emphasize the need to strengthen the female influence in the political landscape, as well as Destatis

Friedrich Merz has also spoken out to encourage women to run for the German Bundestag and to get more involved in the CDU. The group of women within the Union faction even demands a parity of 50 percent women's share in the occupied positions. The design of the future political landscape in Germany could therefore significantly depend on the question of how the proportion of women in the political committees can be improved.