Berlin mayor faces more discrimination as woman than as East German

Franziska Giffey, Berlin's outgoing mayor who heads the city's Social Democrats, has spoken about the discrimination that women politicians face, in an interview published on Friday, reported dpa.

People are tougher and more critical when they deal with women, she told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper.

"When men argue, they are seen as strong and it raises their profile. With women it's always the same: it's seen as catfighting. And there is far greater focus on their appearance."

Asked how she deals with such discrimination, Giffey said, "I know that's how things are. That as a woman I am often part of a minority, the only woman among men, not only in the front row, but also in those behind."

Up against men working together as chums or male rituals, Giffey said, "you can't change that, but you have to insist that your position counts."

"And that's what I do, even if it means more struggle."

Giffey, who has been mayor of Berlin since 2021, was born in Frankfurt an der Oder in 1978, before German reunification. She also touched on the issue of discrimination as someone who comes from the former East Germany during the interview.

She said she felt more discrimination as a woman than as someone from East Germany, which she attributed to the fact that before she became mayor, she held a post in Neukölln, one of the former western districts known for its diversity.

"The contrast between the inner city and the outer districts is much more perceptible today than that between East and West," said Giffey, referring to the differences between the city's various districts in terms of their wealth and poverty, rather than simply whether they were formerly in East or West Germany before reunification.

Up until now, Berlin has been governed by a coalition of the SPD, the Greens and the Left party, die Linke.

But Giffey is set to be replaced as the city's mayor by Christian Democrat state leader Kai Wegner. She will take on a senatorial post in the new government for the city that was elected in February.