Wolfgang Grupp, CEO of the clothing brand Trigema, is known for many conservative attitudes. For some he is celebrated: he relies on production in Germany, thus creating many jobs, and prefers to run his company himself instead of relying on investors or shareholders. The 81-year-old has always done well with this. But with other views that seem a little outdated, he now offends.
Im RTL-Podcast “We
In Grupp’s opinion, both parents are not equally to blame for the dilemma with children being left to their own devices: “I wonder what the women do to make their husbands run away,” he teases in the podcast, thus placing complete responsibility to the mothers. And not just when it comes to maintaining the relationship with the father, but also when it comes to raising children.
After all, it’s the same in nature: “I’ve never seen a deer running around with a calf, only a hind,” explains the 81-year-old his image of women. “The children belong to the mother.” Apparently, his own dealings with his children were similar. “If my children had come to me earlier because of minor aches and pains, I would have asked myself: What’s wrong with my wife, why don’t they go to their mother?”
It seems he has ignored how gender equality and lifestyles have evolved over the past thirty years. In the world of the manager, the roles are still clearly divided: “The men are responsible for the income, the mothers are responsible for the children.” After all, that always worked. “But if today women want the jobs and the men are supposed to do the household chores, then the world has gone wrong,” he says.
At least that’s how it seems to have worked in his own family. However, Grupp sounds a bit more cautious when he talks about his own wife: “I’ve been married for 36 years myself. And I’ll say you have to understand your wife. You have to live together. And it would be fatal for me if “I would have some kind of argument with my wife. Because that would then pass on to the children.” The businessman and his wife Elisabeth have two children, Bonita and Wolfgang junior.
Note on transparency: The podcast episode was published by RTL Germany. Stern and stern.de also belong to the same company.
Sources: “Biz
