That is why young women should definitely vote in the 2025 federal election
Did you know that your voice at theis extremely important? Logical, because we choose for freedom and democracy and againstAnd hate. But what is not aware of everyone: in Germany it is primarily the group of Ü50 year olds who decide who wins the election. Because this age group is by far the most eligible voters. Why young women should go, but that is why, among other things, this is exactly why Prof. Dr. Ursula Münch in an interview.
Choose, yes - butAnd why? When Germany chooses a new Bundestag on February 23, 2025, it is about us and our future: Because we coordinate about how to proceed with our country. We decide with our voices in which future the Federal Republic is moving.
“But does my voice really bring anything? That's just a voice ... ”, many say. Very easy: Yes, every single voice is important, because democracy only works when everyone participates. However, young women in particular should consider which party they make their cross - because they will be affected by the upcoming political decisions in the long term than all other population groups in Germany. Prof. Dr. Ursula Münch revealed in an interview.
Our expert: Prof. Dr. Ursula Münch
Prof. Dr. Ursula Münch has been the director of the Academy for Political Education Tutzing since 2011. The professor of political science, born in 1961, taught from 1996 to 1999 at the Geschwister-Scholl Institute of the LMU Munich and from 1999 to 2011 at the University of the Bundeswehr Munich. From 2009 to 2011 she was also a dean of the Faculty of State and Social Sciences. Federalism and party research as well as policy field analyzes (asylum and immigration policy, family policy, education policy) are among other things on Münch's research focuses, and Prof. Dr. Münch with questions about social integration and demographic change. It takes over the expert role in the Bavarian Radio, the"Tagesschau", at theSüddeutsche Zeitungand theTime.
Münch is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Center for Political Education and a member of the Ethics Commission of the German Association for Political Science. She describes herself as an alternator and does not belong to any party.
Prof. Dr.'s detailed curriculum vitae CoinYou can find here.
Prof. Dr. Ursula Münch in a glamor interview: "You embarrassed much less if you go to vote"
A zoom call, less than three weeks before the Bundestag election. From the Academy for Political Education in Tutzing, Prof. Dr. Ursula Münch and in our conversation explains why you should vote why young people in particular should go to the electoral office and which voice on the ballot papers is really crucial.
Glamor: Why should young women absolutely submit their vote in the 2025 federal election?
Prof. Dr. Ursula Münch:Basically, I think it is important that all people go to the choice of good will because it is simply the basic form of political participation and because a democratic constitutional state needs legitimation through its citizens.
If you look at the composition of our population, it is particularly important that people go to vote who are easily overlooked because they make up a smaller percentage of voters: the boys.
The Boomer generation is very strong, the generation of over 70 year olds is even stronger. These generations have grown up with the feeling that you have to go to choose, which is why the turnout of the Boomer generation is above average. However, if the younger people feel less committed now, less interested in elections, then this gap between the generations continues to differ.
Those who are a minority anyway have to go to vote to have a bit of existence against the boomer and Ü70 generations. This is a general note, which is very important to me.
Only 13 percent of women between the ages of 18 and 35 are entitled to vote, but 58 percent of the Ü50 voters. Why is voting so important in February 2025 despite this age overhang? How can you motivate young people, young women to go to choose?
The life of the younger ones and everything that will change politically lasts much longer than the remaining life of the populated voters: interior groups. It would be foolish to leave the decision about the lives of those who have much more lifetime with a shorter lifetime. That would be another mismatch and a possibly consequential. That alone should motivate people to go to the election so that one says: "Now even more so!"
Apart from that, the least is to be made: it is the simplest form of political participation and at the same time the most powerful. Getting involved in a party, a association, a union or the church is really a lot of work. But basically it doesn't work even more than the election act per se.
I would like to give all young voters: Give the inside: Do not primarily use the postal vote, prefer to make a social event out of choice! Then you make an appointment or before with your friend: inside for coffee or go with the family - because it is also funny. For me, the walk to the polling station also belongs: instead of filling out a note alone, you can see fellow human beings and pay respect to the people who spend their Sunday in the polling station. Go there and choose on site is the least that can be contributed to our democracy.
If you take a closer look at the migrant workers: inside and refugees, you have to automatically realize that there were often no democratic elections in the home countries of these people and no legal proceedings - at most, switching and acting any despots. Then at the latest you have to see that the right to vote and the possibility of selecting immense achievements.
The fact that it is our only duty and our greatest right was once traced, but it is no longer: the number of democracies is in a decline, and in this respect it is a relevant argument. Of course, often comes as a counter -argument: "My voice does not change anything." But if we look at some narrow election outcome and also the party spectrum, it makes a difference whether we have a traffic light government or possibly an AfD government.
Our all and especially the life of young women would then change dramatically: it is about professional and educational perspectives. What if a party could get great responsibility, it demands that the German women are moreshould get? This is in the current election program of the AfD. And then you can approximately imagine how the chances of women will continue on a good training and a childcare place for the child.
The AfD also wants to interfere with freedom of science. I am not a supporter of gender studies, but the AfD's decision is certainly not the responsibility of what is being researched at German universities. These are also topics that affect women, and with the AfD it is guaranteed that there will be no strengthening of the compatibility of family and working life, but one wants to restore the Union policy of the 1950s: In my opinion, no one who is somewhat emancipated , find attractive.
Do women in Germany threaten American conditions?
Do you think that a development similar to in the United States, which more and more restricts women, would also be imaginable with us?
Basically, the United States of America are a distinctive democratic constitutional state. But now we are now seeing what is being undermined. Suddenly a strong market power plays a major role. There is a non -legitimized billionaire who can make decisions and the government agencies, who, among other things, work for people in developing countries and cannot die from actually banal diseases.does this with the claim that they would not work properly anyway and only throw out the American tax money.
That means onefor all. In political science one speaks of “Soft Authoritarianism”; This means that the world's autocrats do not drive up with tanks and put the opponents into prison, but they handle programs that are about diversity, social justice and the support of minorities and socially weak. We know that autocrats something againsthave because they often deny man -made climate change. Either you deny that there is global warming at all, or you say that you can't change anything anyway. These views concern the life of 20 or 30-year-olds, especially the young women, much more massive than the life of the Boomer generation.
What we are currently experiencing in the USA can also happen to us. Then it doesn't necessarily have to be an Elon Musk who will be active there. But we see how quickly theycan be. If you recognize how big this risk of manipulation is already today, it is an absolute luxury to say: "I don't go to choose, maybe next time." Problem: the elections willnowmanipulated.NowPeople are unsettled and you have to do something about it. Then it is not right to just go to choose, but then you really have to choose the parties that are serious and who have a chance to get to parliament. For example, if you choose the animal protection party, you are currently giving away a voice.
What does it really matter in the 2025 Bundestag election?
In 2025, a lot of people speak of “voting strategically”. But what does that mean anyway?
First of all, one has to emphasize that the most important voice is the second voice - because many voters know that: in the inside, no matter what age. Central message: It depends on the second voice.
The “strategic voting” is by no means as relevant as under the former electoral law. There are no more overhang mandates in our current electoral law, but there is a cap on 630 mandates. It rarely makes sense to split the voices that you have yourself. The second vote is the important one, and there are only a few constituencies in the Federal Republic, in which a party difference in the first and second vote pays off in the Bundestag election.
It is also important to make it clear that it is at most a protest to give a marginal party his voice in the Bundestag election. You cannot design with it: this voice is given away if it ends up for a pot of the “other” and landed below five percent.
In this choice, “strategic voting” means above all that you are aligning your election decision to the goal that we get a government -capable government that is controlled by an opposition working as constructively as possible. If government formation goes relatively quickly and somewhat smoothly and if the future federal government actually has the majority on its side, the necessary reforms can best be approached.
Otherwise it would be the narrative of the extremist: use inside, namely: “They all can't get it. These are incapable, the problems are too big, and they cannot do it. ” This is exactly what we hear very often in the election campaign: the next Bundestag election would be particularly important. But this argument should be handled carefully, because that drives the expectations of voters: higher and higher inside. No federal government will solve problems if it does not have enough mandates and support in parliament.
Keyword “Same Gender Voting”. In the past, women chose a top candidate like Angela Merkel if one was available. In 2025, only men compete with the democratic parties. Does the women thrash back?
Of course it may be that voters fromfeel more addressed. However, representation does not mean that the parliament is the reflection of those who are represented. All parties also have women on the lists - the more conservative parties a little less. The question of competence is still more important to me than the gender issue. However, it may well be that missing top candidates result in somewhat lower mobilization of women. But I find that an apolitical idea.
The real political idea should be: “I am a citizen: in this country, and this country creates great framework conditions in an international comparison. So if I want it to get better instead of worse again, then it is the least to give up your voice in the event of a choice. ” It is primarily about what is particularly important to me politically - be it economic competitiveness or the fight against theOr tolerance towards migration and refugees or whatever I particularly concerned.
In my eyes, this is more important than the question of whether a man or a woman is available. We have a chancellor's democracy, but in the last federal government you could see that the Chancellor is increasingly being pushed into a moderation role. The parties, the political groups and government staff - they are all important.
Nevertheless, it is very important to know that only then more women will come into politics ifParticipate in elections, do not withdraw, are not politically abstinent, but encourage other women and perceive the commitment of other politically active women. Because with the exception of the AfD, all parties have a noteworthy number of competent women in their ranks: I think that's pretty remarkable.
How can I get politically involved in the long term?
What political opportunities do people have apart from the Bundestag election, which usually takes place every four years?
We not only choose every four years, but much more often because we have a federal system. In the federal states and at the local level, there are also coordination. It is much easier to participate in all of these processes once you take part in one choice - then you basically stay in the “flow”. Once I have decided to go to vote as an active citizen, I won't stop with it anymore. You have to put on a switch for yourself and say: “Now I do this once and in the future. I will also be my friend: Inside, appealing that this is something meaningful because you get a much higher legitimation yourself. ”
For example, my voice is much more likely to legitimize me to take part in a demonstration for or against something. Then I also have the right to get excited about an election outcome or a discussion round among politicians: inside. Sure, you can always get upset, but if you have not even influenced who is sitting there, this excitement is quite cheap. Demonstrations, online petitions, maybe you are chosen by random for the citizens' council-I can do all of this much more easily if I have a basic level of political information, and I believe that this is a basic contribution to our democratic constitutional state.
Of course, the political conversation with others, also from your own environment, is also included: if someone comments completely strange views and conspiracy beliefs, hostile, anti -male, other enemy and absurd views, you have to stand up for your own basic democratic values. Then you can just say: "Not like that."
We are all multiplier: inside: We all speak to people, are active online and influence people. Whenever someone expresses something unreliable, democratic or misanthropy, this can have an impact. My own willingness to go to vote regularly forces me to inform me to some extent in a friendly way, and protects me from my own stupidity out of uninformedness. I think you embarrass yourself much less when you go to vote.
Even in a digitally networked society, the personal conversation for young people is something very central. But you can only lead this and also conduct convincingly if you have thought about choosing yourself and then hopefully decided as an active person: R voters: to go through life.
Why is the AfD on Tiktok so successful?
Speaking of “digitally networked”: Some parties, especially the AfD, are much more present at Tikkok and Co. than others. Should the others catch up there to reach young voters: to reach inside?
Yes, you should do that. The claim must exist, and the parties see it themselves. There are younger women among the Greens and the left who are extremely committed. However, one should not overlook a basic problem with this question: that the business model of the digital networks via their algorithms is more favorable by the AfD and extremists' messages than that of the reputable parties.
Those who belong to a reputable party themselves or to stand close to does not spread baseless exaggerations or hate messages on social media. Then the messages are much more balanced, explain with “both ... and”. Unfortunately, this reason, this middle, these non-extreme views come togetherand Co. hardly any effect. I think it is important that people who are so much in the digital and social networks are exactly this connection. The sound and the rioter are not only in the 2025Bild-Zeitung.
The reputable parties are of course active in the digital networks, but a federal government rightly asks the question of whether one should really get involved on a platform that is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. Is that even compatible?
Is there a “Political Gender GAP” that contributes to the division of society?
According to a study by the University of Cologne, young voters choose more leftists than men. Is there oneAnd is this election behavior a sign of drifting apart men and women?
The differences in the election behavior of young men and women also depend on the habitats. In East Germany it continues to apart, especially between young men and young women - because in East Germany there are simply fewer young women than men. Many of the young women have left their homeland and moved to another West German country to work there to study to do an apprenticeship there. Theare more in East German countries.
There is actually this distance. Young women tend to be a little better trained. And even if training does not automatically protect against extremism, young women in particular often have a more pronounced sense of justice, they are trying to get more solidarity and support from weak. They reject this “right of stronger” mentality of the entire libertarian and autocrats and authoritarians.
How can you stop this drifting? That is the central question. How can you counteract this radicalization of men? Certainly not with democracy programs. Of course they can create basics, but they don't make a big change. I say that, even though I am a political educator myself.
It is central that we need a successful policy again: People are simply and moving on the one hand frightened by all the crises and therefore deeply concerned. On the other hand, annoyance and aggression may swing up over their own lack of prospects in men.
The best entradicalization program is good and adequate employment conditions and affordable rents - but that is damn difficult. This will be a difficult story this time, but it is all the more important to deliberately make a responsible election decision.
