Former Federal Minister and Green Party leader Renate Künast has criticized the conditions in the political profession for women after 40 years of a career in politics. “Just as a woman, one must be tough, clear and not present a Lady Diana-like appearance” she told the “Tagesspiegel” (Tuesday edition).
“One must not come across as hysterical if one is very engaged in speaking” she said, adding that one must learn not to feel attacked in politics. Her experience as a social worker in a prison had helped her develop this skill, she explained. “I had to learn to separate: Am I as Renate meant, or am I as a person with a function, holding the key to the cell and the station?”
In comparison, Künast said, “Politics can be as hard as prison sometimes.” She also commented on Klaus Wowereit, against whom she ran as the Green Party’s top candidate in the 2011 Berlin state election, stating, “There was an awful lot of show with Klaus Wowereit. And that seemed to be enough.”
The current Green Party leader, Robert Habeck, “would probably have built three airports in a shorter time and he is, unlike Wowereit, a philosopher who can formulate the thoughts and values around it” Künast said.
The Greens are misperceived, Künast argued, saying, “People often say the Greens are the party of the well-off. That suggests one was born with a golden spoon in one’s mouth. That annoys me. Of course, we have many people with higher education, but by no means only.” Künast herself grew up as a working-class child and studied with a vocational high school diploma, “I had to fight for many things. So it’s the same for many of us.