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Lettering: Up to Date, queer and feminist calendar of the Equal Opportunities Office of TU Dortmund University © Borgschulze​/​TU Dortmund
May 23

Anniversary of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany (“Grundgesetz”)

The “Grundgesetz” i. e. Basic Law came into force on May 23, 1949. Since then, it has been the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany - with some amendments and additions.

The Emergence of the Basic Law

The “London Six-Power Conference” in June 1948 can be identified as the starting point of a series of events that led to the drafting of the Basic Law. At the conference, six powers - the USA, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg - drew up the “London Recommendations” (Görtemaker 2007) for the military governors of the Allied powers in West Germany. Based on these recommendations, the military governors instructed the minister presidents of the eleven West German states to convene a “constitutional assembly” (Görtemaker 2007) so that the foundation of a common state could be initiated. In the same year, a “preparatory constitutional convention” (Görtemaker 2007) of the eleven states took place, at which “guidelines for the constitution of a ‘Confederation of German States’” (Görtemaker 2007) were drawn up. Based on this, the specially appointed Parliamentary Council formulated the draft for the Basic Law in September 1948.This draft was adopted in May 1949 and approved by the occupying powers. The resulting Basic Law was signed and announced on May 23, 1949. It came into force the following day, thus establishing the Federal Republic of Germany.

While the Soviet occupation zone in eastern Germany had been hoping for and working towards a common German state since 1947, the “Constitution of the German Democratic Republic” came into force on October 7, 1949 as a reaction to the founding of the FRG - an act that marked the official founding of the GDR (Görtemaker 2007). In 1990, the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany. As a result, the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany now also applies to the territory of the former German Democratic Republic.

Equal Rights and Equality in the Basic Law - Article 3

The original version of the Basic Law of 1949 consists of a preamble and 146 articles, which are divided into eleven sections.

Unlike older constitutions in German history, such as the Constitution of the German Empire under Bismarck of 1871 or the Weimar Constitution of 1919, the Basic Law places the “material fundamental rights” right at the beginning (Feldkamp 2008). They make up Articles 1 to 19 and include very well-known phrasings such as Article 1 Paragraph 1: “Human dignity shall be inviolable” (Federal Ministry of Justice 2025). Other fundamental rights include the right to free personal development, physical integrity, freedom of religion, freedom of opinion, freedom of assembly and many more. Article 5 paragraph 3 is also important for universities: "Arts and sciences, research and teaching shall be free. The freedom of teaching shall not release any person from allegiance to the constitution" (Federal Ministry of Justice 2025).

Article 3 is particularly interesting for equal rights and equality. It contains the following three paragraphs, whereby the sentences marked in italics were not yet part of the legal text in 1949; they were added in 1994 (Weis 2024; Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung 2024):

(1) All persons shall be equal before the law.
(2) Men and women shall have equal rights. The state shall promote the actual implementation of equal rights for women and men and shall take steps to eliminate existing disadvantages.
(3) No person shall be favored or disfavoured because of sex, parentage, race, language, homeland and origin, faith or religious or political opinions. No person shall be disfavoured because of disability. (Federal Ministry of Justice 2025)

The wording of Article 3 paragraph 2 marks the first time that full equality between women and men was recorded as a fundamental right protected by the constitution.

However, incorporating Article 3 into the Basic Law was no easy task. The wording was drafted by Elisabeth Selbert - one of the four female members of the Parliamentary Council, also known as the “Mothers of the Basic Law” - and had to be defended against great resistance (Weis 2024). Her phrasing “Men and women shall have equal rights” was rejected by two committees in November and December 1948. In the same month and in January 1949, Elisabeth Selbert organized a broadly positioned protest in which she motivated members of various organizations to send statements to the participants of the Parliamentary Council. Among others, the Women's Secretariat of the SPD as well as religious, trade union and professional women's associations took part. Helene Weber, the second women of the Parliamentary Council and Selbert's fellow campaigner on the issue of the principle of equality in the Basic Law, called this protest action a “storm from various groups” (Weis 2024), which ultimately convinced all members of the Parliamentary Council: On January 18, 1949, the motion to include the wording as proposed by Selbert in the Basic Law (Weis 2024; BFSJF 2024) was unanimously accepted.

However, many contemporary laws did not yet reflect this fundamental right. For example, until 1957, men still had the “right of final decision” over their wives, as stipulated in family law (BFSFJ 2024). This was overturned by the “Equal Rights Act” (Federal Government 2024), which came into force in July 1958. Now women could decide for themselves whether they wanted to work, get their driver's license or open a bank account - at least as long as these things did not conflict with their ‘duties’ in the household and raising children (Federal Government 2024). Changes like these were made possible by the short but concise sentence in Article 3 Paragraph 2.

Equal Rights and Equality Are Ongoing Processes - Even in Legal Texts

Equal rights for women and men have therefore been enshrined in the German Basic Law for over 75 years. However, the actual implementation of this constitutional principle is still inadequate. For example, Frieda Nadig - the third of the four mothers of the Basic Law – and Helene Weber’s efforts to achieve equal pay are still relevant in the 2020s: in 2024, there was a gender pay gap  of 16% in Germany - in other words, women received an average of 16% less pay than men in that year (Statistisches Bundesamt 2025).
The legal understanding of equal rights is constantly evolving, which is why the associated legal texts must also be constantly adapted or revised. For example, German marriage and family law was reformed in 1977 and a law on equal treatment of women and men in the workplace was passed in 1980 (Dörr 2024).

In 1994, a well-known and important amendment was added to the Basic Law: The Constitutional Commission decided to add the sentence “The state shall promote the actual implementation of equal rights for women and men and shall take steps to eliminate existing disadvantages” to Article 3 Paragraph 2, as mentioned above. The Bundestag thus acknowledged that equality between women and men is still an important goal that has not yet been achieved and that it is the responsibility of government organizations to promote it (BFSFJ 2024). A sentence condemning discrimination against people with disabilities was also added to Paragraph 3 of the Article in 1994 (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung 2024).
There is no mention in the Basic Law that no person may be discriminated against on the basis of their gender identity or sexuality. Organizations that advocate for such an addition justify its necessity primarily by arguing that queer people also were a “victim group of National Socialism” (Verband Queere Vielfalt 2024) and as such deserve protection enshrined in the constitution. Queer organizations and associations in particular criticize the fact that discrimination against people who are part of the LGBTTIAQ+ community is not mentioned in the Basic Law and continue to campaign tirelessly for this addition.

The "Mothers of the Basic Law"

As aforementioned, the four women who participated in the Parliamentary Council in 1949 are referred to as the “Mothers of the Basic Law” (“Mütter des Grundgesetzes”): Elisabeth Selbert, Friederike (Frieda) Nadig, Helene Weber and Helene Wessel.

Elisabeth Selbert was a lawyer, a member of the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany) and in discussions of the Parliamentary Council, she fought for an independent judiciary and judgeship, among other topics. Her efforts gave rise to today's Federal Constitutional Court. She is particularly well known for her central role in the negotiations on the concise wording of the principle of equality in Article 3 Paragraph 2.

Frieda Nadig was a member of the SPD and a member of the German Bundestag from her work in the Parliamentary Council in 1949 until 1961. In negotiations on the Basic Law, she was particularly committed to the issues of equal pay for women and men and the rights of illegitimate children (BFSFJ 2024).

Helene Weber from the CDU (Christian Democratic Union of Germany) was one of four members of the Parliamentary Council who were also present at the National Assembly for the constitution of the Weimar Republic in 1919. She was a member of the Bundestag from 1949 to 1962 and also represented it in committees in other European countries. She fought in particular for parental rights and the protection of marriage and the family. Like Frieda Nadig, she also campaigned for equal pay (BFSFJ 2024).

Helene Wessel was born in Dortmund and belonged to the Center Party until 1951. In that year, she founded the “Emergency Community for the Salvation of Peace in Europe”, which later became the GVP (All-German People's Party). However, the GVP was dissolved in 1957, whereupon Wessel joined the SPD. She was a member of the Bundestag from 1949 to 1951 and from 1957 to 1969. Like Weber, she also explicitly advocated the protection of families and parents. Wessel was one of twelve members of parliament who voted against the 1949 draft of the Basic Law. In her opinion, the draft lacked some fundamental rights, and she argued for more referendums to make the FRG more democratic. In the end, however, she did sign the draft (BFSFJ 2024).

 

Last updated: May 2025

Sources (in German)

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