“Belittling and rejecting” – Esken criticizes the “patriarchal” political system

Former SPD leader Saskia Esken has complained about ongoing unequal treatment of men and women in politics. The political system is “definitely very strongly patriarchal,” said Esken in a podcast from the Funke media group on Thursday. Women are perceived differently than men - male colleagues are “never underestimated, they are at most overestimated”.

Esken reported a “structural kind of pettiness and rejection” when dealing with female politicians. Women are sometimes not allowed to speak in interviews and their ideas are ignored. “Three days later a man has the same idea and is celebrated for it,” she complained in the Funke podcast.

Such behavioral patterns need to be trained away and women should confidently take on responsibility, demanded Esken. “We make up half the population and we are entitled to half the power.” Esken was SPD co-leader from 2019 until her resignation in 2025. She was succeeded by Bärbel Bas – who announced her resignation in mid-October.

In the podcast, Esken also complained about how her party treated her at the time. After the 2025 federal election, there was a tendency among the public and within the party to blame her for the election outcome, in such a way that "my career should be over and Lars Klingbeil's should not be over," she said of the co-party leader.

Esken said she always saw eye-to-eye with Klingbeil internally, “but it was always difficult outside.” In the small circle that promoted Olaf Scholz's candidacy for chancellor, she was the only woman.