Survey: this is how equal men and women are really

On the Rhine and Ruhr. In the big NRZ role check, we wanted to know what the situation was about equality. The results show that there is still a lot to do.

You may congratulate us: our newsletter Perspektive:frauen is celebrating its one-year birthday these days. Week after week, every Wednesday, news, opinions and facts land directly in the inbox of interested readers. Back then, we decided to tackle issues from the Lower Rhine and the Ruhr area differently and to focus a little more on the perspective of women. We wanted to know from you how equal rights are. To put it bluntly: there is still a lot to do. At least that's how the men and women who filled out the questionnaire see it. In 16 questions, they wanted to know who has better career opportunities, whether there are fears, and how the choice of name is handled in marriage.

What about equality?

If a certificate of equality were issued in Germany, a transfer would not be an option. The majority rated the current status of equality in Germany with the grade "satisfactory". A proportion of 37.9 percent of the 885 survey participants see it that way.

22.8 percent rate equality as "good", 16.6 percent as "sufficient". Only 1.4 percent think that equality is "insufficient". However, you have to know that the majority of the answers came from the women's perspective, because almost 72 percent of the participants are female.

What are the career opportunities like?

On the other hand, there was a fairly clear vote on the question of whether women and men have the same opportunities to pursue a career. 74.7 percent of those surveyed are of the opinion that men have better opportunities for professional development than women.

And how do the respondents feel about the quota for women? 60 percent of those surveyed do not believe that women's quotas harm equality, while 39.6 percent believe: Yes, the quota harms.

Parental leave is not yet balanced

When it comes to the question of leadership, the respondents agree that men and women can lead equally well - 53.7 percent are of this opinion. However, 39.3 percent say the world would be a better place if more women were in key leadership positions.

How quickly they can get back to work also depends on the question of parental leave. We wanted to know whether the partner in question would take parental leave. 31.2 percent voted for the answer "yes, in equal parts". 25.8 percent stated that their partner would take less parental leave, and 16.8 percent said that their partner did not want to take parental leave.

In the household, women still seem to do most of the work such as cleaning, cooking, shopping or washing - 47.2 percent are of this opinion. 34 percent state that the work is divided roughly equally.

Gender-neutral language - yes or no?

The fact that equality should be reflected in the language is not so decisive for many of those surveyed. Almost 63 percent see it as "not so important" or "unimportant".

On the other hand, there are almost 30 percent for whom it is important and very important.

After the wedding: which name becomes the family name?

It is still more the rule that the husband's name is adopted as the family name upon marriage; this is the case for 54.6 percent of those surveyed.

The woman's name as a common name is used in just under 5 percent of cases. 20.8 percent of those surveyed have or would like to keep their name, 8.4 percent have a double name and 10.9 percent say they do not want to get married.

Typically female? Does that exist?

When asked what is typically female, there were very different answers. Some also criticized that this question was actually no longer up-to-date, that there were no typical female and male characteristics. Admittedly, this question should be a little provocative. When we asked the question, we were aware that there would be such comments.

And yet well-known role clichés emerged, which are often only touched upon with keywords: shoes, clothing, household, cosmetics, having children and raising children, but also more empathy and better communication skills.

The corona pandemic

And then we wanted to know what the respondents are looking forward to most after the corona pandemic. This result is pretty clear. 54 percent say: hug friends for a long time.

>> What is typically female? What the participants say

- "Many women believe that they can shine through beauty rather than performance in the workplace. Desk as a catwalk, so to speak!”

- “Women can listen, speak well and discuss. Women are capable of multitasking.”

- "For me, such statements are stereotypes that should not be transferred to individuals."

- "Often the women in the household do more on their own. They were mostly brought up that way.”

- "Loving details. In my day-to-day work, I often observe that male colleagues tend to have an eye on the big picture and are happy to generously overlook the details, while female colleagues sometimes deal a little too much with the details and then run the risk of getting bogged down and the overall result to lose sight of.”

- "Not being able to go outside alone in the evening or only being unsure."

- "For me, there is nothing typically feminine. The question alone confirms gender stereotypes.”

- "Not consistently demanding when it comes to professional matters... And still bears the main burden in the family."

- "Still not having equal rights in society - a pity! Other countries can do it better."

- "Give way in society when the going gets tough, as many women are still too intent on presenting a good image. It's different in a long-term relationship with a man; I have the impression that the woman is making the announcement, even if it is not quite obvious.”

- "I don't want to answer. Every answer - no matter in which direction - leads to discrimination. From one side or the other. It is always misinterpreted - i.e. ideologically."

(Selected quotes from the many answers)

More articles from this category can be found here: Niederrhein