There for Everyone: Equality in the SPK
News from 11/22/2023
As the SPK’s Equal Opportunity Officer, Lara Rossi advocates for all issues related to equality for employees and the foundation. In this role, she advises employees and managers, develops work-life balance initiatives, and works to combat discrimination of all kinds. Her goal is to enable everyone to participate equally in professional life at the SPK and to contribute equally to the SPK’s work. In this short interview, she provides insight into her work.
What does your work as the SPK’s equality officer involve? What issues do you deal with?
My work is very varied. My responsibilities include both strategic, overarching equality policy work within the Foundation, as well as grassroots equality policy work in the form of support, advice and guidance for colleagues.
No two working days are the same. The issues I deal with range from work-life balance and the advancement of women, through protection against sexual harassment and discrimination, to the general promotion of open, tolerant discourse on social issues relating to equality and diversity.
Given the diversity of these issues, it is particularly important to me to develop and implement concrete measures that have an immediate impact and tangibly and sustainably promote equal participation in working life within the SPK and in the SPK’s activities.
A case study: For many employees with young children, finding a nursery place near their home or workplace proves very difficult. This may also limit their options when looking for a job. What is the SPK doing, as an employer, to make it easier to balance family and work?
Finding a nursery place is indeed one of the very major challenges faced by working parents when returning to work after parental leave.
It sometimes happens that employees are forced to extend their parental leave because childcare cannot be secured. This situation can cause major difficulties for the families affected – particularly single parents. And ultimately, it significantly hinders equal participation in working life – for the simple reason that families cannot work without childcare.
That is why I am all the more delighted that we have recently launched a partnership with Fröbel Bildung und Erziehung gGmbH. As part of this partnership, from 2024 we will be making a quota of nursery places available to our employees. In this way, we are making a significant contribution to promoting a healthy work-life balance.
But it is not just the search for nursery places that poses major challenges for staff. Time and again, there are also unplanned closures of nurseries and after-school care centres. Or exhibition openings, art events or conferences take place outside regular childcare hours. We have taken action here too. The framework conditions for childcare should not hinder professional participation within the SPK. That is why, since 2021, we have had an experienced partner, Kidsmobil, at our side. They take over childcare in precisely such cases.
Currently, a highly acclaimed exhibition at the Museum of European Cultures is dedicated to the topic of menstruation. It is a topic that affects half of humanity – and yet is still often perceived as a taboo in society. As part of a pilot project, you are now installing hygiene dispensers for menstrual products at 20 SPK locations. How did this come about?
I’ll be blunt: every person who menstruates knows that moment when you’re caught off guard, unprepared, or simply don’t have any menstrual products to hand. This can happen whilst visiting a museum, in the library, during a meeting or in the toilet. You start to improvise, discreetly ask friends or colleagues for help, or quickly leave an event – or even cut short your visit to the museum. That’s not what equal participation looks like.
And this is exactly where the pilot project comes in. We’re following examples from the university sector, amongst others, where free period products are already provided in some cases. After all, nobody questions the provision of free toilet paper.
And, of course, there is also a broader dimension to this issue. Through this pilot project, we are raising the profile of menstruation. We are making a contribution to the discussion surrounding the removal of taboos surrounding menstruation and related issues. For in this context, there is much that remains hidden behind a veil of silence in society, either due to shame or to a lack of understanding amongst those who do not menstruate.
Many menstruating people suffer from premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and, during their menstrual cycle, from severe abdominal and/or headaches. Water retention or dizziness can also be symptoms during the menstrual cycle. Around 15 per cent of menstruating people are also affected by endometriosis.
And open discussion on this topic is, of course, nothing new. If we look, for example, at Spain, Ireland, England and Scotland, we see significant changes: new laws allowing people to take time off work due to period-related symptoms, the provision of free, publicly accessible menstrual products, and a zero-rate of VAT on period products.
I am certain that we will see similar developments in Germany too. The reduction in VAT on menstrual products from 19 per cent to 7 per cent is, after all, a start – albeit a modest one.
Our society is becoming increasingly diverse. However, this is not yet reflected in all areas of the workplace. Is promoting and fostering diversity also an issue for you?
It certainly is. The foundation is very large and bears a great deal of responsibility – both internally and externally. Diversity demands just as much responsibility – both internally and externally.
Valuing different perspectives and ensuring equal opportunities in working life, regardless of national, ethnic and socio-economic background, mental and physical abilities, age and other dimensions of diversity, are essential for effective and fair working practices within the Foundation. This is what I am committed to.
For it is precisely this way of working that also reflects the Foundation’s external responsibility. The Foundation, with all its institutions – from museums and research institutes to libraries and archives – is there for everyone! And our work must be able to reach everyone. In a way that is sensitive to diversity. And responsible. And this applies to both content and accessibility.
The questions were asked by Louis Killisch.