And? What did the man say about that? Marei Sonntag has to laugh at this question, which she has heard countless times: “What should he have said: If you want to do that, then do it! What else?” When asked whether she really thought it over correctly, the 37-year-old no longer answers at all. And no longer on how she wants to do it: A head post in the town hall and three children at home, the youngest just a year.
Marei is Sunday the new director since January of Office for Education and Social Affairs in the Zittau city administration, head of 29 employees, responsible for the schools and day-care centers, for the sports facilities and youth facilities, for child and youth work, for social work, social benefits and housing allowance authorities, for club sponsorship.
display
–
The hospital service company Löbau-Zittau mbH is looking for a craftsman / electronics technician (m / f / d)
–
With her application for the position of head of office, she prevailed against seven competitors, four men and three women. Her qualifications are high: she studied sociology, psychology and pedagogy, has several additional certificates and has worked as a department head for a large institution in Dresden for many years. When she was presented to the responsible city council committee, however, they didn’t want to know much about her, she said, but asked many more personal questions: Above all, how she wanted to manage this balancing act between family and work.
“I can’t do the balancing act at all”
“I can’t do the balancing act at all,” she wanted to answer. Such questions annoy the 37-year-old. “You would never put it to a man like that,” she says with certainty. Even in the 21st century there is still a big difference whether men or women apply for a management position. “It is important that women are represented in management levels,” says Marei Sonntag, “because there are very different concerns and perceptions. Women are affected differently by certain issues than men – when it comes to the opening times of daycare centers, for example.”
Marei Sonntag sits in a small office in the urban “villa” on Hochwaldstrasse. Your desk looks like work. A coffee mug, lots of paper, pieces of paper with notes, a vase with birch twigs. She has no time to fritter away. She pinned her half-length hair together this morning, the blazer goes well with the auburn bangs and for any occasion. Practical and straightforward.
She has just spoken on the phone to a young woman who could imagine working as a childminder. She’s about to have an appointment with two employees from a private agency. She wants the “villa” to be used more as a house for children and young people again. A draft resolution for the next city council meeting must be ready by the afternoon. Later on, there will be another issue of the extension to the park school, which was rejected by a narrow city council majority: “Of course, we know about the budget,” she says. “But we have checked and weighed all the options. For us, the new building is still the most sustainable and most sensible.”
“Have you ever dressed three children at half past seven in the morning?”
The fact that it cannot always be about the money first is perhaps also due to her dismay as a woman and mother: “For me, the priority is clearly on education and the best we can do as a city for it. How attractive is Zittau for Families? We have to ask ourselves that. “
Marei Sonntag lives with her family in Mittelherwigsdorf. Her husband works as a self-employed businessman, and the children are one, five and seven years old. Two years ago, the sundays were drawn back home, also close to their grandparents again. “We lived in Dresden for years, it’s not that far away either,” says Marei Sonntag, “but when we came back from vacation, we never had the feeling of coming home there. Home was always for us here.”
Family life in Dresden always had to be well organized in order for it to work with the compatibility of family and work, says Marei Sonntag. And now Corona is helping her in a certain sense: Since working from home has become a matter of course in work, everything has been much more relaxed. This morning she answered a few urgent e-mails at home and then took the children to daycare and school in peace. “Anyone who has ever dressed three children in the morning under time pressure, because everyone has to be out on time at 7.30 am, knows what I’m talking about,” she says with a smile.
Marei Sonntag is convinced that she doesn’t necessarily have to be able to do the balancing act. All that is needed for women in management positions is a few better framework conditions: flexible working hours, good childcare, the opportunity to work from home. And no longer this question of what the man has to say about it.
Read more news from Löbau and the surrounding area here.
You can read more news from Zittau and the surrounding area here.
Would you like to have the most important news from Löbau and / or Zittau sent directly to your smartphone? Then get in touch for push notifications an.
Do you want to know early on what is happening between Oppach and Ostritz, the Zittau Mountains and the A4? Then subscribe to our newsletter “Löbau-Zittau compact“.
Who wants to follow us on social media:
Do you have any tips, criticism or praise? Then write to us by email [email protected]ächsische.de or [email protected]ächsische.de
–
