The German Women Lawyers Association (djb) brings lawyers and economists together. Our aim is to realize equality and equal opportunities for women in all fields. Our association is independent, non-partisan and non-denominational.

Our voluntary-based committees are working on demands in social and legal policy, focusing on the following fields: violence protection, equal opportunities in employment, justice in tax law, women’s social security, family and parentage law, women’s representation in politics, business and the legal system, sexual and reproductive self-determination, the fight against human trafficking and exploitation, European and international gender equality policies, discrimination within the system of legal training and education.

Our members

The djb’s approximately 4500 members (as of February 2023) are the lifeblood of our association. They are working in a variety of professions and comprise different generations – they include students, attorneys, and experts from economics, academia, administration, media and culture; but also federal ministers and judges from the high courts as well as from the Federal Constitutional Court. All of them are united in their wish to use their legal and economic expertise for the benefit of a feminist agenda.

Regional and international networking

We work at the European, federal and regional level. There are regional associations for each of the 16 German states (Landesverbände) and numerous local groups (Regionalgruppen). On the international Level we are represented by the local groups in Brussels, Madrid, Paris and Washington, D.C., and, among others, collaborating with the European Women Lawyers Association (EWLA).

The Network of Young Women Lawyers (Junge Juristinnen) provides a networking space for students, legal apprentices, PhD candidates, and young professionals. They are exchanging educational and professional experience in round table meetings and via their own mailing lists.

Activities

We organize academic and political events and engage in campaigns in order to create public attention. We participate in trials at the Federal Constitutional Court and constantly interfere in legislative procedures by issuing statements and legal opinions. We address parliaments, governments and the administration on the federal and regional level, providing political suggestions and criticism. Our trimestrial journal “Zeitschrift des Deutschen Jurstinnenbundes” (djbZ) discusses current issues within the field of women’s rights policies. Furthermore, we engage in memory policies by issuing the traveling exhibitions “Women Lawyers in the GDR” and “Jewish Women Lawyers”. Every other year we honor outstanding research from the field of law and gender with the Academic Award Marie Elisabeth Lüders.