Germany

Federal Council

Political system: Parliamentary system
Structure of parliament: Bicameral
IPU membership: Yes

Data on women

Information on the current and historical representation of women in the parliament. Consult the 'Elections' tab to see how women have fared in elections or renewals.

Current representation

Women's representation in the current parliament or chamber

Current number of members: 69
Women: 26
Percentage of women: 37.7%

Speaker

Speaker: Manuela Schwesig (Female)
Date of birth: 23 May 1974

Secretary general

Secretary General: Ute Rettler (Female)

Chairs of specialized bodies

Specialized body	Theme	Name	Sex	Age
Committee on Women and Youth	Gender equality	Petra Grimm-Benne	Female	61

Data on age at the start of the legislature

Number of members, by age (2023-11)

Breakdown of members by age and gender
	18 - 20	21 - 30	31 - 40	41 - 45	46 - 50	51 - 60	61 - 70	71 - 80	81 - 90	91 and over	Totals per gender
Male	0	0	2	3	9	18	9	3	0	0	44
Female	0	0	2	3	6	8	6	0	0	0	25
Totals per age interval	0	0	4	6	15	26	15	3	0	0	69
	Total <= 45: 10				Total >= 46: 59

Percentage of members, by age
Age at the last election or renewal	Overall	Male	Female
Percentage of MPs 30 years of age or younger	0.0%	0.0%	0.0%
Percentage of MPs 40 years of age or younger	5.8%	3%	2.9%
Percentage of MPs 45 years of age or younger	14.5%	7%	7.2%

Reserved seats and quotas

There are reserved seats in parliament for certain groups: No
Electoral quota for women: No

First woman in parliament

Year of first woman in parliament: 1919

Notes: 1919: Constitutional Assembly; of the 423 members, 2 were elected in February

First woman speaker

Year of first woman speaker: 1972

Women’s suffrage

Women’s right to vote: 1918
Restricted or universal suffrage: Universal

Notes: First exercised right to vote in 1919

Women's right to stand for election: 1918
Restricted or universal: No information available

Notes: When the Nazis came to power, women lost the right to stand for office.

Women's caucus

Women's caucuses or parliamentary groups that bring together women parliamentarians to strengthen cooperation and amplify their voices. For other parliamentary bodies or committees that have a specific mandate to address gender equality matters, see the ‘Specialized body – Gender equality’ tab.

There is currently no women's caucus in this chamber.

Updated at	Current number of members
2022-12	69
2021-12	71
1997-01	69
1990-01	68

Updated at	Women
2023-12	26
2023-11	25
2022-12	28
2021-12	24
2021-08	23
2019-12	25
2016-12	27
2014-12	28
2009-01	19
1994-01	13
1990-01	10

Updated at	Percentage of women
2023-12	37.7%
2023-11	36.2%
2022-12	40.6%
2021-12	33.8%
2021-08	33.3%
2019-12	36.2%
2016-12	39.1%
2014-12	40.6%
2009-01	27.5%
1997-01	18.8%
1994-01	19.1%
1990-01	14.7%