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Wouldn’t it be much more important for women to choose other educational paths? So not literature and marketing, but control and technology?
Women have massively caught up in education, so poor grades are no longer an argument against equality. But as the minister responsible for research and technology, I have always advocated that women study technical and natural sciences. By the way, companies in which there is diversity are more successful.
What else is needed?
We have to talk about the value of work and ask ourselves: why are wages so low where many women are employed? We also see that career opportunities for women decrease when they have children. 75 percent of all women with children under 15 years of age work part-time and one in three women needs financial support from her partner. This continues until they reach their pension, from which they cannot live at all.
Hasn’t the SPÖ been fooling around for a long time about the special situation of women in migrant settings?
Of course, you also have to look closely. It is mainly about education. The city of Vienna, for example, organizes German courses especially for women.
Is there enough talk about women’s rights in the values courses for newcomers?
I hope so. We had a Secretary of State for Integration who is now Chancellor. And I really like teaching ethics in schools.
Isn’t it that feminists sometimes make things a bit easier for themselves by always declaring the old white as a great enemy?
There are more and more old white people in solidarity! (laughs)
How high do you estimate the probability of a return of the grand coalition?
I don’t know, but two months ago I couldn’t have imagined the charged mood that now prevails in politics. If we can continue with vaccines, hopefully sooner than we are now, then a decade awaits us in which we will have to rebuild the economy. The broader the political and social consensus, the more successful we will be.
He is already mentioned as a possible Minister of Justice in a turquoise red government.
So first of all, we now have more important things to do than speculate on positions. Second, the Social Democracy is opposed. And third, with eight years of government experience, I am probably one of the longest-serving ministers in the Second Republic. I have committed myself to parliamentarism and I believe that parliament now plays an important role in the functioning of democracy and crisis management. I hope that the government and parliament are treated equally.
Has anything improved there?
Yes, in recent weeks there has been an awareness that the parties represented in parliament must also participate and that other opinions must be heard. And in Parliament we have shown that we are capable of examining regulations in a few hours and even overnight. By the way, that also makes them better.
How do you get along with Chancellor Sebastian Kurz?
I have a very professional relationship with him, we were also in the same federal government for a time.
And his presidential candidacy in 2022?
The federal president has not yet said whether he will run again. Therefore, it would be disrespectful to speculate about it. We still have a lot of time to discuss this question in detail.
And when does it appear?
So I think a lot about the good tradition that later we don’t put an opponent.
