AfD in Saxony: Where are the Women?

Things are bleak in Trump's America, but there is also very distressing news coming out of Germany.  Der Spiegel has a long piece on its English site about the demise of the "big-tent parties" which is how they translate Volksparteien - namely the CDU and SPD.  For the entire post-war era, these two political parties have formed the foundation of stability and democracy for the German nation.  But this era of stability appears to be coming to an end:

The stability of the country's big-tent parties was a guarantee of a stable political landscape. Their ability to integrate a wide variety of political opinions prevented the radical fringes from growing too strong. That reality, though, has now come to an end. Cool heads, to borrow Merkel's plea in Demmin, are few and far between.

The situation with the Social Democrats (SPD) is especially dire, and catastrophic in eastern Germany.  An article in today's Welt reports that the SPD has been overtaken by the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)  - the party that I can only describe as neo-fascist - in seven of Germany's sixteen states ( Bundesländer ) according to the most current polling of voters:

Auf Basis des aktuellen Deutschlandtrends verlöre die SPD 33 ihrer derzeit 153 Mandate im Bundestag, wie sich aus Projektionen der Plattform mandatsrechner.de ermitteln lässt. Dieser Verlust ist umso gravierender, weil der Bundestag dieser Projektion zufolge noch größer wäre als das schon jetzt erheblich aufgeblähte Parlament.

And the situation is most alarming in the east:

Dramatisch ist die Lage für die Sozialdemokraten vor allem in Sachsen und Thüringen. Wäre am Sonntag Bundestagswahl, holte die AfD in Sachsen 13 Mandate, die SPD drei. In Thüringen käme die AfD auf sechs Sitze, die SPD auf zwei. Selbst die Grünen schnitten zurzeit bei einer Bundestagswahl in einigen Ländern besser ab als die SPD, so in Baden-Württemberg, Bayern und Berlin.

In Saxony, the AfD is now running neck-in-neck with the CDU in terms of popularity.  Why this disillusionment, if not outright hatred of democracy, in the east?  The New York Times published an article last week on the failed reunification (Wiedervereinigung) of east and west.  Here is one important clue: 

Eastern women, who were part of the work force and with free child care, were more emancipated than their western sisters, and proved to be more mobile than their male counterparts. Some eastern villages now have two or three men for every woman — the kind of ratio one otherwise finds near the Arctic Circle, demographers say.

The absence of women at AfD rallies is striking. Check out this speech by the AfD representative Andre Poggenburg.  A sea of men roaring in approval as Poggenburg shouts out his racist rant. Can you spot any women?

Der Spiegel sent a female reporter - Melanie Amann - to cover the AfD rally.  She also had a hard time finding any women - other than a couple of Russian blondes:

Die meisten Herren dürften um die 60 Jahre alt sein, wohlgenährt und an diesem späten Nachmittag schon auf Betriebstemperatur für einen politischen Aschermittwoch. [...] "Komm, setz Dich, Sonnenscheinchen!" Jürgen zieht einen Stuhl heran, spendiert einen Sekt. Frauen trinken doch immer Sekt. Der Rest der Runde trinkt Bier, und auf dem Tisch steht eine Flasche Absolut Vodka. Nur ein Unternehmer hat seine Frau mitgebracht, sie wird als einzige auf der Tribüne fasziniert allen Reden lauschen. Für die anderen ist der Abend eher wie ein Fußballspiel, das vorbeirauscht, und dem man sich nur zuwendet, wenn der Jubel der Fans einen neuen Höhepunkt ankündigt. Wenn die Menge "Abschieben! Abschieben!" ruft, oder "Wir sind das Volk!".

Of course, there are women in  the AfD; two of the party's leaders are women: Alice Weidel and Beatrix von Storch.  But unless there is a reverse migration of women into Saxony and Thuringia the entire region will become just a brown swamp of right-wing extremism.

Comments

[sol1]

This lack of women gets quite ridiculous, when the AfD tries to mobilise for a "Women's March":

http://www.belltower.news/artikel/eine-rechtsextreme-frauendemo-war-berlin-nicht-willkommen-13357

[Nichtauchdasnoch]

Better soft skills helped the women to follow the jobs, that's all. There can be no doubt about the condition precendent to the desired "reverse migration of women". The only alternative is to offer the lost men a better life elsewhere. Nobody cares about this problem.

[Zyme]

There is a few additional mechanisms at work here:

While there is always exceptions, women in general tend to favor the save course of well-trodden paths above exciting alternatives, which might lead to challenging situations. You can see that by the amount of female workforce in all kinds of positions considered extremely safe, public sector most notably.

While they focus on well-being of their family and people in general, especially in this country they do not focus on the resources both consume today.
Due to our current economic cycle, they take the available amount of public budgets for granted and do not question taxation levels mostly.
Not surprisingly, a result they tend to close their eyes with respect to the economic impact of mass migration, hoping against hope it will go well.

Sadly, only first hand experience seems to change their mind, both with respect to public security and national wealth.
Only when a significant amount have felt the impact first hand (e.g. schools are not renovated or pensions are stuck vs inflation, because our government has already identified more worthy people to spend money on).

Bottom line: To women the concept of anticipating a nation's future based on the current events is often foreign.
That is primarily why they do not fall in love with the AfD at the same pace.

[sol1]

Far from "anticipating the nation's future" the AfD is even completely wrong about the current events.

[David]

Watching the video of these men's reaction to this racist Poggenburg shows that there has been a serious "Brain Drain" in Saxony. An influx of women would help, but what self-respecting woman would want to be with these losers?

Today they chant "Abschieben!" ; yesterday it was "Juden 'raus!"

[Zyme]

Mass events of any kind do not reflect the intellectual super-class of a society. Look at thousands running into stadiums for football matches or assembling for events organized by unions or churches and you will not find any additional capability for self-awareness. There is always a tiny segment of organizers and a big herd of sheep.

When I see people believing into the incredible substance of "Wir schaffen das!" & "borders cannot be defended" or chanting "refugees welcome", I certainly expect no more thought given to it than when others want them deported.

I wrote about the attractiveness of the AfD to women in general, irrespective of mass assemblies.