Equality between women and men

Equal pay for work of equal value is by no means a given!
Equal Pay Day is a day of action that draws attention to the fact that women all over the world earn less than men. It draws attention to the percentage difference in the average gross earnings of women and men. This difference is also known as the gender pay gap.

The Federal Statistical Office recalculates this symbolic pay gap every year.

• Since 2020, the wage gap in Germany has remained constant at 18%; according to the Federal Statistical Office, the gap fell to 16% in 2024.
• Converted from the previous 66 days, this means that women will now work 58 days unpaid, while men will be paid for their work from January 1.

Part of this pay gap can be attributed to so-called structural differences. Many women learn professions that are underpaid, are less likely to work in management positions and are more likely to work part-time or in mini-jobs.

But even if these factors are factored out and we look at equally qualified women and men who work the same amount in the same sector and the same position, there is still an unexplained pay gap of six percent in Germany (the so-called adjusted gender pay gap).

Facts and figures on Equal Pay Day

Wage atlas NRW

On March 8, International Women's Day, also known as International Women's Day, campaigns and events are held around the world to draw attention to women's rights and gender equality. The day is intended to celebrate the achievements of the women's rights movement to date and at the same time highlight the discrimination and inequalities that still exist. It also aims to encourage people to stand up for gender equality.

Historical background: It has been a long road for women to achieve equal rights. These are "not special rights, but human rights" - as Clara Zetkin demanded for women in 1910. The German socialist voiced this demand at the Second Congress of the Socialist International in Copenhagen, thus initiating International Women's Day. Since 1911 , the equality of women and men has been promoted on this day. On one day in March that year, women in Germany, Austria, Denmark and Switzerland took to the streets to demand their rights - the focus at the time was on women's suffrage and participation in political power. Women in the USA, who had already initiated a national day of struggle for their rights a few years earlier, were among the role models. Since 1921 , International Women's Day has been celebrated annually on March 8 and thus has a fixed date. An exception to this is the Nazi era, during which this day was banned as a socialist holiday. In the GDR, however, Women's Day became a state-ordered celebration ritual in which the interests of women were subordinated to the general political goals of the republic.

A few interesting facts and figures from Germany! Did you know that (only)

• Women's suffrage was introduced at the end of 1918
• In 1949, equal rights for men and women were enshrined in Article 3 (2) of the Basic Law
• from 1958 women were entitled to open their own bank account
• from 1958 women were allowed to work without their husband's permission; BUT: until 1977 only if this was compatible with their duties in marriage and family
• marital rape has been punishable since 1997

• March 8 has been a public holiday in Berlin since 2019 and in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania from 2023
• the ban on advertising abortions was abolished in 2022.

Events and campaigns are held around the world to mark International Women's Day.

In Kevelaer, there is a special guided tour of the town on International Women's Day, which tells the story and successes of strong women in Kevelaer.

Girls' Day and Boys' Day is a nationwide day of action to promote girls or boys in professions in which women or men are currently underrepresented - i.e. their share is less than 40 percent. For example, the skilled trades or IT sector is often still male-dominated(Girls' Day professions), whereas in contrast, women are predominantly employed in areas such as services and education(Boys' Day professions).

This year's Girls' and Boys' Day took place on April 3, 2025 . On this day, the pilgrimage town of Kevelaer also gave pupils from the 8th grade onwards the opportunity to get to know the diversity of administrative areas free of gender stereotypes and role models and to discover them according to their own interests and abilities. Young people who do not feel that they belong to their biological gender or do not identify with any gender also had the opportunity to register individually for the Girls' Day and Boys' Day activities offered by Kevelaer town council.

We thought the day of action with the pupils was great and are already looking forward to next year!

Here is a brief review of the eventful day...

On May 17, 1990, the World Health Organization decided to remove homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses. Since 2005, the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) has been celebrated worldwide on this date. Explanations of the terms can be found here (source: Die Fibel von "gerne anders").

Even today, people are still discriminated against and marginalized because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. People are not all equal, but their rights must be! Human rights are not negotiable! As a sign that all people are welcome in the district of Kleve, the rainbow flag will be hoisted in front of many town halls on May 17.

The youth café together is a contact point for queer young people in the Kleve district and can be found in 47533 Kleve, Am Spoyufer 1-3 and in 47608 Geldern am Bahnhof, Brühlscher Weg 4. Further information can be found at the link below.

together - Information and meeting points

November 25 is the International Day against Violence against Women. To mark the occasion, campaigns are held around the world to draw attention to discrimination and violence of all kinds against women and girls.

Historical background: The background to the initiation of the day of action was the Mirabal case. The 3 Mirabal sisters were Dominican opponents of the regime who were abducted and ultimately murdered by members of the military of the then dictator Rafael Trujillo on November 25, 1960. In 1981, at a meeting of Latin American and Caribbean feminists, November 25 was proclaimed a day of remembrance for the victims of violence against women and was officially adopted by the United Nations in 1999. Since 1981, various organizations around the world have organized events to mark this day.

Current figures from Germany: In Germany, every third woman is a victim of physical and/or sexualized violence once in her life, that is more than 12 million women. UN Women Germany

Forms of violence (source: UN Women Germany).

There are many different forms of violence, some of which are listed here in excerpts. Further forms and explanations can be found under the above link from UN Women.

Violence in partnerships

Intimate partner violence - also known as domestic violence (definition below) - describes patterns of behavior to exert or maintain power and control over a partner. Intimate partner violence can manifest itself as physical, sexual, emotional, economic and psychological acts or threats of such acts that harm another person. Intimate partner violence often begins with verbal violence, which is often not initially recognized as violence, and escalates ("spiral of violence"). Intimate partner violence is one of the most widespread forms of gender-based violence worldwide.

Definition of domestic violence: Domestic violence includes all forms of physical, sexual or psychological violence and covers both family and partner violence. Domestic violence occurs when the violence takes place between people who live together in a family or partner relationship. It also exists if it occurs independently of a shared household within the family or in current or former partnerships (definition from the Federal Criminal Police Office's Domestic Violence Report 2023 ) .

Femicide

The term femicide refers to the deliberate killing of a woman because of her gender. However, as the term is not always uniformly defined and used, it is also used to refer to all killings of women and girls regardless of the motive for the crime. Femicide differs in a very specific way from the killing of a man. This is because most femicides are committed in the context of (former) partnerships that were already characterized by violence, sexual abuse, a strong power imbalance, threats and intimidation.

In 2023, 155 women in Germany were killed by their partner or ex-partner.

Sexualized violence

Sexualized violence describes any act by which a person is harassed or forced against their will to perform a sexual act for which they have not given their consent or for which consent cannot be given (see Mutual consent).

In contrast to "sexual violence", "sexualized violence" makes it clear that it is about violence with sexual means, not about sex. It is primarily about a form of exercising power and discrimination, not about sexual gratification or a so-called "drive".

Round table for a violence-free home in the Kleve district

Information about free women's shelters in NRW 

Anonymous forensics at St. Antonius Hospital Kleve

Incidentally, the color orange plays a special role on 25 November: orange is the campaign color of the United Nations organization "UN Women", which has been drawing attention to violence against women and girls as part of the "Orange the World" campaign every year since 1991 in the period from 25 November (International Day against Violence against Women and Girls) to 10 December (International Human Rights Day). The color orange is also intended to symbolize a future without violence against women.

The Zonta Club Niederrhein and the equal opportunities officers in the Kleve district have also been supporting the campaign for years.

Many other institutions, sponsors and businesses in Kevelaer also support the "Orange the World" campaign in Kevelaer.Zonta Club Niederrhein says NO to violence against women