The Second Gender Equality Report

In recent decades, German life has become a great deal more diverse. Despite this, everyday realities remain often very different for men and for women. The German Government’s First Gender Equality Report has demonstrated that the risks and opportunities faced by men and women are today still unequally apportioned in many areas. On the basis of academic findings, the Second Gender Equality Report will make specific recommendations as to how it can aim for short or long-term progress in terms of real gender equality. It thus contributes to efforts to ensure that political decisions are made on the basis of numbers and facts, in turn strengthening the policy making process.

In 2005, the coalition government in charge at that time decided that each legislative period should see the production of a Gender Equality Report. These reports are intended both as a stock-taking exercise as regards equality in Germany and a means of providing guidance in central areas of gender equality policy.

The German Federal Government’s First Gender Equality Report was published in 2011, analysing equality policy from a course-of-life perspective. The Second Equality Report expands on this analysis, focusing on transition points such as starting work, getting ahead in one’s career, family planning and care for the elderly. Particular attention is  paid to structures which can influence decisions at transition points in life, such as the tax system or the education system. Alongside this analysis, the report makes policy recommendations which can bring new energy to equality policy. The goal is for a society with de facto equal opportunities for men and women; a society in which the same possibilities are present across the whole course of a person’s life.

The Second Equality Report is comprised of a report made by the Expert Commission and a statement of the Federal Government, and has been published in early 2017. 

The Expert Commission, chaired by Professor Eva Kocher, worked on a voluntary and independent basis with the assistance of an agency based in Frankfurt and Berlin.