Equal = equal: a digital hackathon to collect ideas for gender equality in Germany

To alleviate the impacts of COVID-19 policies, many initiatives have been developed by civil society organisations – NGOs, local governments, or citizens. A team of national researchers from the RESISTIRÉ project has collected and highlighted a set of particularly relevant initiatives in 27 European countries and in Iceland, Serbia, the United Kingdom and Turkey. The initiatives currently cover eight specific domains: gender-based violence, the labour market, the economy, gender-pay and pension gaps, gender care gaps, decision-making and politics, environmental justice, human and fundamental rights.

Achieving an authentic partnership between the sexes, with equal pay, care responsibilities, and equal rights is the vision of the Katholischer Deutscher Frauenbun, the Catholic German Women’s Union. To tackle the negative effects of the pandemic on gender equality, the KDFB has organised a digital 48-hour workshop in cooperation with the Bavarian Ministry for Social Affairs. The event, open to women and men of all ages, aimed at gathering ideas to shape the future of gender equality.

The COVID-19 pandemic as a turning point for gender equality and justice

The aim of the hackathon was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the care work, the responsibilities allocated to the different sexes, and the mixing of the private and professional spheres, acting as a catalyst for ideas and practices mitigating these impacts and bringing positive change. The hackathon was opened to discuss the challenges and opportunities for equality, for both women and men.

Following the success of the initiative, the KDFB has organised a series of further online events on the topic, running online until November 2021:

2nd team meeting: October 6th, 2021, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

3rd team meeting: October 20, 2021, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

4th team meeting: November 10, 2021, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

5th team meeting: November 24, 2021, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Closing event on December 2nd, 2021 for “Digital Volunteer Day” from 7:00 p.m.

Read more about the Equal = equal hackathon