单选题 Germany, Europe"s economic powerhouse, does not lack courage: it rebounded from two world wars, digested reunification and has now powered ahead of neighbors still reeling from the financial crisis. It overhauled a rigid labor market and raised the retirement age to 67 with little fuss. Most recently, it simply decided to abandon nuclear power.
With this boldness at the top comes obedience at the bottom—82 million Germans will wait at a pedestrian red light, even with no car in sight.
But when it comes to empowering women, no Teutonic drive or respect seems to work—even under one of the world"s most powerful women, Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Despite a batch of government measures and ever more passionate debate about gender roles, only about 14 percent of German mothers with one child resume full-time work, and only 6 percent of those with two. All 30 German stock index companies are run by men. Nationwide, a single woman presides on a supervisory board: Dr. Simone Bagel-Trah at Henkel.
Eighteen months after the International Herald Tribune launched a series on the state of women in the 21st century with a look at Germany, the country has emerged as a test case for the push-and-pull of economics and tradition.
For the developed world, Germany"s situation suggests that puzzling out how to remove enduring barriers to women"s further progress is one of the hardest questions to solve.
In all European countries, from the traditionally macho southern rim to more egalitarian Nordic nations, the availability and affordability of child care, intertwined with traditional ideas about gender roles, have proved key factors in determining gender equality. The nature of male networks is another telling factor.
Women remain a striking minority in top corporate circles, even in fiercely egalitarian countries like Sweden or the US where opportunities often go with one"s abilities. Very few countries approach 20 percent female representation on corporate executive boards.
Yet if Swedish executive suites boast 17 percent women and the United States and Britain 14 Percent, in Germany it is 2 percent—as in India, according to McKinsey"s 2010 Women Matter report.
One of the countries in most need of female talent—German birthrate is among the lowest in Europe and labor shortages in skilled technical professions are already 150,000—Germany is a place where gender stereotypes remain engrained in the mind, and in key institutions across society.