Abstract

Following the 1983 national election in West Germany, the Green Party entered the federal parliament for the first time. The party was rooted in the new social movements of environmentalism, feminism, and pacifism. An internal women’s quota assured that at least fifty percent of the seats in parliamentary elections would be filled by women. Particularly noteworthy at the time was the all-female leadership of the parliamentary group of the Greens in 1984, the so-called Feminat, led by Antje Vollmer as speaker.  The women’s quota was new to West Germany at the time but subsequently was taken up by most of the other political parties. The photo shows: back row, left to right: Waltraud Schoppe, Annemarie Borgmann, Erika Hickel; front row, left to right: Christa Nickels, Antje Vollmer, Heidemarie Dann.

“Feminat”: All Female Leadership of the Green Party Parliamentary Group (1984)

Source

Source: The parliamentary party leadership of the Greens in the Bundestag. Back row from left to right: Waltraud Schoppe (spokeswoman), Annemarie Borgmann (spokeswoman), and Dr. Erika Hickel (parliamentary manager). Front left to right: Christa Nickels (parliamentary secretary), Antje Vollmer (speaker), and Heidemarie Dann (parliamentary secretary), photographed in Bonn on April 4, 1984. Photo: Egon Steiner. Picture-Alliance/ dpa. Media no. 1839817.

© picture-alliance/dpa/Egon Steiner

Joachim Raschke, Gudrun Heinrich: Die Grünen. Wie sie wurden, was sie sind. Bund, Köln 1993

“Feminat”: All Female Leadership of the Green Party Parliamentary Group (1984), published in: German History in Documents and Images, <https://germanhistorydocs.org/en/two-germanies-1961-1989/ghdi:image-5054> [December 22, 2024].