Gender - an Issue for German Welfare Organisation

During the last months and years the English expression 'gender' has become a well-known word all over Germany, often with the annex 'mainstreaming'. Gender mainstreaming was initiated as a political strategy by the Women's World Conference in Beijing in 1995 and adopted by the European Union in 1997 (COM(96)76 final). It basically means that all actions and initiatives planned have to be tested as to their effects on women and men and should not be taken if they disadvantage either one. But gender is also a category in the discussion about democratic features. Gender democracy means that males and females should be represented equally in the public, political, cultural, social and economic sphere of a society. On this background, this paper traces the gender issue in the field of organizations in the social sector of Germany, in particular the 'welfare organizations'. In this article, 'welfare organizations' is used as a translation of the German word 'Wohlfahrtsverbände'. The reason for this choice is the endeavor to indicate their difference from for instance English 'charitable associations' or French 'associations sociale et sanitaire', because social organizations in the EU-member states differ considerably in regard to their history, function, self-image , financing, political power etc.. The terms 'social non-governmental organizations' (NGOs) or 'social nonprofit organizations' (NPOs ) are used synonymously.

Aspekte der strukturellen Organisation der Basalmembran und der Mauscornea

Thin and ultrathin cryosections of mouse cornea were labeled with affinity-purified antibodies directed against either laminin, its central segments (domain 1), the end of its long arm (domain 3), the end of one of its short arms (domain 4), nidogen, or low density heparan sulfate proteoglycan. All basement membrane proteins are detected by indirect immunofluorescence exclusively in the epithelial basement membrane, in Descemet's membrane, and in small amorphous plaques located in the stroma. Immunoelectron microscopy using the protein A-gold technique demonstrated laminin domain 1 and nidogen in a narrow segment of the lamina densa at the junction to the lamina lucida within the epithelial basement membrane. Domain 3 shows three preferred locations at both the cellular and stromal boundaries of the epithelial basement membrane and in its center. Domain 4 is located predominantly in the lamina lucida and the adjacent half of the lamina densa. The low density heparan sulfate proteoglycan is found all across the basement membrane showing a similar uniform distribution as with antibodies against the whole laminin molecule. In Descemet's membrane an even distribution was found with all these antibodies. It is concluded that within the epithelial basement membrane the center of the laminin molecule is located near the lamina densa/lamina lucida junction and that its long arm favors three major orientations. One is close to the cell surface indicating binding to a cell receptor, while the other two are directed to internal matrix structures. The apparent codistribution of laminin domain 1 and nidogen agrees with biochemical evidence that nidogen binds to this domain.