House of Representatives President Bärbel Bas laments persistent sexism in the Bundestag. “Yes, you still hear such sexist remarks all the time” Bas said in a podcast by the Funke Media Group.
“If, in particular, young women are at the podium, one still experiences such things today, unfortunately” she said. There are shouts like “Finish your apprenticeship first, you haven’t learned anything yet” or “How do you look like today again?” Such personal attacks mainly come “from the right side of the Parliament”.
Bas referred to the fact that “we had to impose many order calls during this legislative period, also with fines, which we didn’t have many years ago”. Since the AfD’s entry into the Bundestag in 2017, the language has changed. “It has become more aggressive, it has become more discriminatory against the members themselves. And I think that’s already a significant difference from previous years.”
There are people in the Bundestag, according to the President, who “disdain members of parliament from the inside out, disdain the parliament, the way it works. They put the system into question, so to speak. They try to shift the language a bit further, as far as what is still sayable, until an order call is necessary.”
A consequence is physical attacks on politicians. First, the language becomes aggressive: “And then there are people who say, that’s not just about talking, but also about taking action” said Bas. “And that’s why we pay attention to it in the session leadership to ensure that we still treat each other respectfully here in the house.” We must also set a good example for citizens, who are listening. “But we don’t always succeed in that.