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German Politician's Remark Stirs Outcry Over Sexism

Rainer Brüderle, leader of Germany’s Free Democrat party, recently told Laura Himmelreich, a journalist who was interviewing him, that her breasts could “fill out a dirndl”. This remarkable piece of sexism has spurred a massive Twitter backlash, as women who had previously kept quiet suddenly began telling stories about their own experiences with sexual harassment.

Aynur Eroglu, a 20-year-old in Berlin who works in sales, says she is no stranger to sexual harassment at her job, where most of the customers are male.

“It happens all the time,” Ms. Eroglu said. “They get touchy or tell me how great my butt looks, saying they’d love to take me home.”

Germany apparently lags quite a bit when it comes to gender equality, with a 22-percent wage gap and a lack of representation in most upper management:

A woman who gave her name as Gudrun Lux posted about seeing her application for a job rejected because, she was told, “the boss does not want any women of childbearing age.” Another calling herself Su-Shee recounted interviewing a young male applicant who asked to see “the real boss, the man.”

Hopefully all this outrage goes somewhere.

source