Berlin. The federal police commissioner to the German Bundestag, Uli Grötsch, is calling for gender parity in senior ranks within the Federal Police and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). "Women deserve half the world—at the very least. This must be reflected in the personnel structure of our security agencies," Grötsch told the Munich Mercury.

Germany's Police Chief Demands 50-50 Gender Balance in Leadership by 2027

"Policing is not a man's world. Women can perform police work just as well as men. Maybe they approach things differently at times, but certainly not worse," he said. "The BKA is further ahead than the Federal Police when it comes to women in leadership roles. But both agencies have a tremendous amount of catching up to do."

Currently, women make up about 21 percent of the Federal Police's uniformed service—the largest group of employees—while only around 15 percent hold senior positions. At the BKA, women account for 41 percent of the workforce overall, but just 25 percent occupy roles at the A16 pay grade or higher (such as department heads).

When asked whether legal parity quotas were necessary to increase female representation, Grötsch responded: "If you wait for change to happen on its own, you'll be waiting a long time." He noted that women often have different life plans than men and require different professional frameworks—conditions that agencies must provide. "It's 2026. You can't just say, 'Tough luck, you're a woman, so you can't have a career in the Federal Police.'"

His goal is clear: "By the time my term ends, women in the Federal Police and the BKA should have better career opportunities than they do today. Ideally, we'd reach fifty-fifty by then. We're doing everything we can to make it happen. Whether it'll be enough in the end—we'll see."