8 Women And 8 Men: Germany Gets Its First Gender-Equal Cabinet

Women to run all portfolios tied to security and diplomacy in Olaf Scholz’s government

BERLIN • For the first time in 16 years, Germany will be run by a man. But although Dr Angela Merkel is handing over the chancellery to a male successor, the incoming Cabinet will have more women than ever before.

To be exact, half of it will comprise women.

Incoming chancellor Olaf Scholz kept his election promise to appoint as many women as men to his government – and not only that, women will run all the briefs related to security and diplomacy.

Germany will have its first female foreign minister and its first female interior minister. It will also get its third female defence minister in a row.

“Security will lie in the hands of strong women in this government,” Mr Scholz said on Monday.

Mr Scholz, a Social Democrat, will lead a three-way coalition with the progressive Greens and libertarian Free Democrats.

“Women and men account for half the population each, so women should also get half the power. I’m very proud we have succeeded in realising this,” he said.

The fact that it is Dr Merkel’s male successor who is doing something that she never achieved herself – gender-parity in the Cabinet – speaks to the very mixed legacy on gender for the outgoing chancellor, who for over a decade was the most powerful woman in the world.