plan b - Strong women - Fighting for self-determination
Even in 2025, equality often only exists on paper. Around the world, women are campaigning for women to break through outdated structures and empower each other. Freedom to choose their own path, equal rights at work, financial independence: these are the sore points that initiatives in Germany and Ecuador are addressing. The reportage series ‘plan b’ accompanies three committed pioneers. One of them is surgeon Katja Schlosser. The head physician at Agaplesion Evangelisches Krankenhaus Mittelhessen and her association ‘Die Chirurginnen’ (The Female Surgeons) are campaigning for colleagues like Kristina Götzky to be allowed to practise their profession without restrictions - even if they have a child.
This is de facto forbidden in some federal states: Pregnant women are no longer allowed to operate. The official reason: the Maternity Protection Act. This puts female surgeons at a disadvantage compared to their male colleagues. A disadvantage that Katja Schlosser does not accept. She is fighting for a say and equal career opportunities: ‘Nobody would expect a pregnant surgeon to expose herself to X-rays during an operation.
But you have to look: Where can you operate pregnant? There are ways in between ‘completely’ and ‘not at all’!’ Standing up for yourself is not always easy for girls from male-dominated cultures - like Bahareh Husseini from Iran, who now lives in Düsseldorf. ‘I didn't used to know freedom. My big wish was that I could go to university. To do something that the boys do,’ says the now 21-year-old. She managed to flee to Germany and found help at Diakonie.
Jessica te Heesen runs a project there called JUMP. It helps young women to make the leap into a self-determined life. ‘It's important for us that the girls learn to assert themselves,’ says te Heesen. JUMP offers courses on how to deal with men, help at school and with job applications. There is also the option of moving into a shared flat. This allows the girls to socialise and strengthen each other. Bahareh is a good example of how well this works. She is now studying medical physics and helps other refugee girls at JUMP to build up their self-confidence.
This is exactly what Patricia Yaselga is doing in her home country of Ecuador. In the north of the country, many indigenous women have little choice but to work in the all-dominant cut flower industry. The industry only pays them the minimum wage and contaminates the once fertile soil with pesticides and artificial fertilisers. The consequences: Poverty and malnutrition. ‘The flower industry is destroying indigenous culture and jeopardising people's self-sufficiency in healthy food,’ says business economist Patricia Yaselga.
This is why she founded the ‘Foundation for Alternative Development’: SEDAL. Together with her colleague Rosa Quimbia, she offers workshops for women to prepare them for organic farming. This makes them financially independent and enables them to feed their families. ‘Men have always made the decisions, even though women do most of the work. For their contribution to be valued, their voice must be heard,’ says Patricia Yaselga. Some of the organic women farmers are now even fighting for emancipation politically: as self-confident members of local councils.
Broadcasting on 22th of March 2025 at 05.35pm + on 27th of March 2025 at 04.30am on ZDF
Music: POPVIRUS Library