Advantages in the field
Women are increasingly asserting themselves in traditionally male-dominated fields. The proportion of people with a migration background is also increasing.
Almost 26 percent of the people in Germany have an immigrant background and over 50 per cent of the population are women. Is this social structure also reflected in areas such as the Bundeswehr and the police? We checked:
Diversity in the Bundeswehr
The Bundeswehr wants to promote diversity in its ranks. As recently as 2001, women in the Bundeswehr were not allowed in the fighting troops. Around 12 per cent of soldiers are now female, and in the civilian sector the figure is as high as 38 per cent. Inclusion is also very important to the Bundeswehr. The proportion of severely disabled people in the civilian sector is around 10 per cent, 0.7 percentage points above the average for the German population as a whole. The proportion of German soldiers with an immigrant background is also growing steadily. It is now 14 per cent – tendency rising.
Diversit y in the police force
If police officers have a good command of foreign languages and are familiar with other cultures, this can have advantages in the field. That is why cultural diversity is a big issue for the German police. The authorities in the federal states are now recruiting new employees in Turkish, Russian and Polish, and this approach can already boast some success. In Berlin, the proportion of new police officers with an immigrant background is almost 30 per cent; in Hesse the proportion rose from 12 per cent in 2013 to 21 per cent in 2019. Police personnel with an immigrant biography are still underrepresented nationally, but that will be changing in coming years.
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