Criticism of city policy
Women’s protest outside the town hall: “It’s a mess!”
For the second time in a very short space of time, Klagenfurt's city politicians are confronted with a demonstration in front of the town hall - this time, measures relating to the women's office have caused outrage.
On Wednesday morning at Neuer Platz in Klagenfurt, people whistled, discussed, got angry and collected signatures. Numerous women - including some men - gathered in front of the town hall to express their anger: "You can't treat us women like this," criticized Andrea Wulz - demo organizer and former, long-standing municipal politician - in her speech.
What caused the anger? Because the Passport Office is suffering from a staff shortage, but the city has also declared a freeze on staff recruitment due to ailing finances, two employees from the Women's Office were temporarily assigned to the Passport Office. The criticism was that the important contact point for women was being "starved out". With the withdrawal of the employees, the resources for important consultations are no longer available: "Where can women in need turn to then?"
Many supporters fought for the women's office
In addition to well-known female faces, such as director Ute Liepold, representatives of numerous organizers who work closely with the Women's Office were also present at the demonstration. For example, the Chamber of Labor, the girls' center "EqualiZ" or the association "ponto".
"The women's office in Klagenfurt is an important network organization for us. The fact that it is now to be, shall we say politely, thinned out would be fatal," warns Maximilian Turrini, Head of the Department of Labor and Social Law at the Carinthian Chamber of Labor.
Trouble in Klagenfurt: "It's a mess"
"It's a mess - I'm really outraged," one demonstrator told the "Krone" newspaper. "I don't want young women to have to grow up in the same conditions as I did," she explains her participation. It is incomprehensible to the women that the women's office has to suffer under the financially strained times: "And this despite the fact that many of the offers are even put together without money from the city, but with the help of sponsors and cooperations."
Women's officer Constance Mochar, who says she was surprised by the allocation of duties in her department, was also on site: "I find Mayor Scheider's approach very strange. I am already working on a cross-party solution, because women's policy is an important political issue that must not be cut corners," announced Mochar. This should not be too difficult, as representatives of all city parties have expressed their displeasure at the weakening of the Women's Office.
Non-partisan solution?
While Margit Motschiunig and Stefan Samonig from the Greens were at the demonstration themselves, the ÖVP said in a press release: "No money for women's issues? At a time when two women became victims of femicide every month last year, violence against women and girls is on the rise and the need for prevention work is greater than ever, this is definitely the wrong way to go," point out ÖVP local councillors Julia Löschnig and Verena Kulterer.
"While essential structures for women are disappearing, the carnival in Klagenfurt of all places is spared from cuts - a bad carnival joke that needs no punchline," says NEOS municipal councillor Iris Glanzer, who is also strongly critical of Scheider's office manager and club chairman Patrick Jonke.
No abolition of the women's office
The demonstrators were invited to a discussion by Mayor Christian Scheider at the end: "This is not about a long-term solution! It is not the intention to abolish the Women's Office - we are already looking for a sustainable solution." He had never specifically ordered that the staffing gap be filled at the expense of the women's office.
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
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