Nina Warken: New hope for women in CDU politics!

Nina Warken: New hope for women in CDU politics!

On May 24, 2025, Nina Warken took over the leadership of the CDU Women's Union. She succeeds Annette Widmann-Mauz, who stopped running after ten years. Warken won the candidacy at the Federal Delegates Day in Reutlingen with 62.1% of the votes against her competitor Ina Scharrenbach, who is Minister for Homeland, Municipal Affairs, Construction and Digitalization in North Rhine-Westphalia. Her election is a step toward encouraging more female perspectives in politics, a concern she made clear in her inaugural speech.

The new chairwoman Warken also expressed uncertainty about her future role as state secretary general in Baden-Württemberg. During the event, the previous chairwoman Widmann-Mauz and Federal Family Minister Karin Prien complained about the ongoing lack of female leaders in the CDU, especially in comparison to the number of men represented in leadership positions. Prien emphasized the need for equal representation in leadership positions.

Challenges and demands of the Women's Union

The proportion of women in the party presidium, party executive committee and federal cabinet is currently 44%. However, only 4 out of 20 members of the executive committees of the CDU are women. The number of female working group chairs and speakers, at 4 out of 23, also does not meet the requirement for equal participation. Warken emphasizes that there is no shortage of qualified women, which Widmann-Mauz confirmed again.

One of the focuses of Warken's agenda is improving the Women's Union's communication and campaigning capabilities on social media. This is in contrast to the perception that the women's union is a “cheerleading group”. Warken has already received support from the state associations and believes that she is capable of holding both positions - as Federal Minister of Health and Chairwoman of the Women's Union.

Global perspective on women in politics

The challenges that women face in political office are not only in focus in Germany. UN Women publishes regular statistics on the underrepresentation of women in political decision-making positions worldwide. Despite progressive developments, gender parity remains a distant goal. In the German Bundestag, women currently only make up a third of political decisions, and globally women only head 23 percent of ministries.

Elke Ferner, the chairwoman of UN Women Germany, calls for the dismantling of discriminatory structures and a parity law for Germany to ensure the equal participation of women in political, economic and social areas. Warken herself plans to anchor central issues of the women's union in the coalition agreement, such as tax relief for child care and the tightening of laws against violence against women.

The path to gender equality in leading positions remains an important issue, both in Germany and worldwide. The election of Nina Warken to the top of the Women's Union could be a decisive step in this direction. Their perspectives and plans will be crucial to how female representation develops in the CDU and beyond.