This text comes from the stern archive and was first published on August 28, 2023. On the occasion of International Women’s Day, we are republishing it here.
Doing is like wanting, only more intense. I spent eight years suing my former employer for equal pay. Equal pay for equal work – that can’t be that difficult, I thought. After all, equality is guaranteed by the Basic Law and the European Treaties. But the process, which took me all the way to the Federal Constitutional Court and then back to the first instance in Berlin, was extremely laborious. After all: it wasn’t in vain. ZDF and I have come to an agreement. What remains of the marathon process is a fundamental judgment from which all women benefit, a referral for me and the certainty: there is a lot to be done. But things are progressing slowly.
The legal drama began at the time with labor judge Michael Ernst. My higher-earning men simply “negotiated better,” he speculated in 2016: “That’s called capitalism.” Besides, as we all know, women get pregnant. “Welcome to the Middle Ages,” a friend protested loudly in the audience. “Rest in the cheap seats,” the man appointed by the state to judge my basic right to equal pay for equal work said to the women on the wooden benches: “It’s not that easy, ladies, even if it is she still moans so loudly.”
Stupid sayings are obviously part of the demand for equal pay. But also a lot of recognition: “A postal worker shouted across the office: I’ll keep my fingers crossed for your lawsuit!” Astrid Siemes-Knoblich told Stern in an interview five months ago. The former mayor of the city of Müllheim in Markgräflerland earned less than her predecessor and her successor: “What a slap in the face!” The non-partisan 61-year-old, who now works as a management consultant and once joined the district council on the CDU list, says: “A democracy is not complete if everyone cannot participate equally.”
I spoke to three active plaintiffs at the time. Everyone has now won or seen money in a settlement. The Freiburg Administrative Court awarded Astrid Siemes-Knoblich a good 50,000 euros, plus pension entitlements. Gabriele Gamroth-Günther, a lawyer at VGH insurance, only achieved a landmark ruling before the Federal Labor Court. She then compared herself with her employer. And Susanne Duma’s former company, Photon Meissener Technologies from Meißen, also had to pay: around 20,000 euros in retroactive salary plus 2,000 euros in compensation. “I dedicate this success to my two daughters and, on behalf of all women in Germany. Be brave, be loud and never let anyone take the butter out of your bread!” said Dumas in February after her victory at the Federal Labor Court. When the verdict was announced, tears of relief rolled down her face.
Politicians are also responsible for the fact that the procedures can be extremely difficult for women. If companies want to do this, their employees have to argue about every detail, no matter how stupid, in court. A lot of things are actually regulated by women-friendly guidelines and case law from Europe. But the federal governments did not fully implement these. So individual women now have to fight their way up to the higher authorities – including, as in my case, with the support of the non-profit Society for Civil Rights – so that they can implement what politicians have refused to do since the 1970s.
In 2017, politicians promised a remedy. Since then, a word monster called the Pay Transparency Act has been intended to help women get equal wages. But transparency is rarely achieved – and if it is, then only a little: instead of concrete numbers, there is a “median”, an average salary for male colleagues. But only if at least six of them do a comparable job. Provided that the company employs at least 200 people. “The current legislation is more of a toothless tiger,” even the current Federal Minister for Women’s Affairs admitted last year: “We need clearer reporting obligations, and we also need clear auditing obligations for employers,” demanded Lisa Paus from the Green Party in a ZDF broadcast .
But what does she do about it?
A few days ago, the federal government gave itself another damning report on equal pay. The law obliges them to evaluate. The result is a tome that, on several hundred pages, summarizes in many words what working women have long known: the law doesn’t work. Women continue to earn less than men.
Here are some sobering excerpts:
“With regard to the effectiveness and application of the Pay Transparency Act,” the federal government admits somewhat awkwardly, “it is noted that compared to the previous evaluation, only selective improvements have been recorded.” That’s really not much, especially since the previous evaluation was already devastating. However, nothing was changed in the law at that time.
So what should happen now? The Federal Ministry for Women’s Affairs would like to “evaluate recommendations for action” and discuss the report “together with the specialist public and social partners.” In plain language: The federal government wants to talk. Sometime later: take action. Perhaps.
Why is politics so difficult? With an unadjusted wage gap of 18 percent, Germany continues to be among the bottom performers in a European comparison. Other countries have long since made employers responsible instead of women. But Germany pays less attention to the interests of its citizens than to those of the economy.
One example was the adoption of a new European directive at the end of 2022. It has what it takes to be a true equal pay turbo: all employees, men and women, should have the right to information – no matter how big the company is. Companies with more than 100 employees must publish their pay gaps. Individual women should no longer have to sue, but associations could take their place to court – an enormous relief. But when the ambassadors of the EU states were supposed to vote, the federal government chickened out. She abstained. According to the dpa news agency, the traffic light was unable to agree on a common line – “despite generous lead times for companies,” complained Minister Lisa Paus in December 2022: “A particular downer”.
This is not a good omen for the implementation of the equal pay booster from Europe. The member states have three years to do this.
The star wanted to know why Germany abstained from the vote and made inquiries under the Freedom of Information Act. But the Ministry of Women’s Affairs is stonewalling – with memorable justification: If the positions of the departments were made public, it would endanger “the free formation of opinions within the federal government”. This makes it more difficult to find a compromise and “could significantly affect the success of the already expected difficult legislative process.”
Equal pay – the basic right of women to earn equally – remains a bone of contention. It will be interesting to see whether the traffic light is actually still trying to implement the European wage transparency directive – or whether it will leave it to its successors.
“It’s 2022. Women and men should be paid equally,” tweeted Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the female footballers last year, receiving much applause. But apart from lip service, his government has so far not had much to offer in the fight against wage discrimination.
Women have the justice system to thank for the fact that those who demand their rights no longer necessarily come away empty-handed. The fundamental rulings of the Federal Labor Court apparently led to a change of heart in the lower courts.
When I read my book, “Equal Pay Now!”, at the Leipzig Book Fair. was reading, a neatly dressed gentleman in the front row was listening critically and attentively. Be careful, I said to myself, a lawyer! and, after many years of complaining, I was forgiven for saying something stupid or annoying.
Later, in an extremely friendly manner, he introduced himself as Vice President of the Thuringian State Labor Court. Would I be interested in training employment judges in dealing with equal pay lawsuits? At the Judicial Academy, people were appropriately horrified by the behavior of the Berlin judge eight years earlier.
At least lower-earning women will hopefully be spared the shame of being humiliated in court in the future.
