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Report: Underrepresentation of women in right-wing reporting

The Expert Center on Gender and Right-Wing Extremism of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, sponsored by Open Society Foundations and Dreilinden, has published its report on women in Germany’s far-right and neo-Nazi movements.

The report is a comprehensive analysis of the role women play in racist and xenophobic groups, and how this role is overlooked and underrated by much of Germany’s policymakers, security services and society as a whole.

Major areas and players relevant to the fight against the far right are covered in the report, including social work and education, preschool workers and school teachers, right-wing gender ideology, media representation, Exit programs, sports clubs, regional legislatures, and police and security services.

For each, the report provides an overview of the situation and recommendations.

The Amadeu Antonio Foundation stands at the forefront of monitoring far-right women and has already taken great strides in this important but long neglected topic:

  • Provide training sessions in regional kindergartens and preschools: Established a network of teachers, principals, administrators and heads of kindergartens who are aware of the problem and would like continued support to develop appropriate professional responses.
  • Develop training programs for leaders of regional sports associations (in particular martial arts groups): Established an open dialogue process about the prevention of right-wing extremism, with the goal of jointly developing democratic principles and practical advice.
  • Initiated a dialogue with social work school associations for introducing this topic into curricula and developing democratic principles therein.
  • Monitor and analyse the trial of Beate Zschäpe: Made specific recommendations to the parliamentary committee on gender-specific failings, including training for police and security agencies as well as media outlets.
  • Engage journalists aware of gender-specific shortcomings in the reporting on right-wing extremism: Raising awareness to encourage appropriate media coverage, cooperat with journalism schools.
  • Partners with state representatives against child molestation to identify and react to right-wing activists within non-professional groups working against child abuse: Raising awareness and coaching a network of grassroots organisations, resulting in a 60-page brochure that has been widely distributed to victims centers.
  • Cooperate with various relevant associations, for example the German Women’s Circle, which until this point had not dealt with the topic of right-wing extremism at all. We also organized a conference with them about right-wing women and continue to plan our next public campaigns.
  • Coach youth clubs and community centers to identify the problem and respond appropriately.

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