The district of Märkisch-Oderland is at the top of a comparison of 413 districts and independent towns in terms of equality. In particular, the areas of education, training, income, labour market and social participation were evaluated on 19 different indicators. Märkisch-Oderland was also able to demonstrate improvements in the assessment of these indicators for equal opportunities for women and men compared to 2006.
Rainer Schinkel, alderman and head of department: "It is not so often that an East German district takes a top place in a nationwide ranking, so we are all the more delighted that we were able to achieve first place in this ranking. Our district was also among the front runners in the last comparison. The current result clearly shows the reality of life in eastern Germany. On the one hand, the employment rate for women is traditionally higher than in comparable western German districts and, on the other, our labour market is dominated by the service sector and less by the manufacturing industry. This is another reason for the higher labour force participation rate of women. In addition, there are numerous funding instruments that the district successfully implements. Economic development projects in particular are consistently dedicated to improving women's opportunities on the labour market.
Integration measures into the labour market have been intensified. In projects such as the pilot service and young companies, we ensure good conditions for female business founders and also provide childcare places, for example. In the promotion of business start-ups by the STIC business development organisation, the proportion of women has tripled within three years. This puts our district well above the national average for business start-ups. Special emphasis is also placed on women's access to the labour market in regional budget projects. These measures have given us a good reputation and also enabled us to perform well in the gender equality ranking.
However, it should be noted that we are not among the leaders in absolute terms in the individual categories of income, unemployment and education, and we see it as our task to make improvements here."
The "Gender Index" is a nationwide measuring instrument for the regional comparison of gender equality. The data was collected and analysed by Wert.Arbeit GmbH, Berlin, Gesellschaft für Arbeit, Chancengleichheit und Innovation together with the Federal Office for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development and the Hans Böckler Foundation.
Seelow, 18 August 2011