Baroness Elisabeth Charlotte Motschmann is a German politician and journalist. She is a member of the Bundestag and the media policy spokeswoman for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany's parliamentary group. Throughout her career, Motschmann has focused on women's issues and children's rights. She opposes abortion, supports the ordination of women in Christian churches, and has advocated for establishing a legally regulated quota for women in leadership in the corporate sector in response to women's economic inequality and the gender-gap in chief executive positions in German companies.
Early life and journalism
Motschmann was born Baroness Elisabeth Charlotte von Düsterlohe on 13 October 1952 in Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein. A member of a German noble family, she is the second of three children of Renate Cramer and Baron Friedrich-Karl von Düsterlohe. Motschmann graduated from school in 1971 and, from 1972 to 1975, studied theology and romance languages at the University of Hamburg and the University of Kiel. Motschmann worked as a freelance journalist and publicist until 1993, focusing on family and women's issues, child poverty, and reporting on third world countries. From 1986 to 1991 she was a freelancer at Norddeutscher Rundfunk and from 1986 until 1993 she worked for the Axel Springer.
Political career
Career in state politics
Motschmann became a member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany in the 1970s and was a member of the party's district board of Steinburg and Itzehoe. From 1977 to 1981 she served as the deputy state chairwoman of the :de:Frauen-Union|Women's Union in Schleswig-Holstein and as a member of the state board of Schleswig-Holstein until 1987. After moving to Bremen she became the deputy chair of the Christian Democratic Union there from 1990 to 2006. In 1990 she became a member of the state council for sports and culture. In 1998 Motschmann joined the anti-abortion campaign Tim Leben! with the Yes to Life Foundation as a member of the board of trustees, working alongside Countess Johanna von Westphalen, Gloria, Princess of Thurn and Taxis, :de:Nikolaus Lobkowicz|Prince Nikolaus von Lobkowicz, and :de:Roland Rösler|Roland Rösler. In 2006 she became the chairwoman of the state committee of the party in Bremen. In 2012 Motschmann was appointed as a member of the federal executive board of the Christian Democratic Union.
Member of the German Parliament, 2013–present
In March 2013 Motschmann was elected as a top candidate of the Christian Democratic Union in Bremen for the election of the 18th Bundestag, representing Bremen I. In 2015 she was the party's top candidate for the Bremen elections. In March 2017 she was re-elected as a member of the Bundestag. In 2019 she became a member of the Franco-German Parliamentary Assembly. She serves as the media policy spokesperson for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. In addition to her committee assignments, Motschmann has been a member of the German delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe since 2018. In the Assembly, she serves on the Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media; the Sub-Committee on Culture, Diversity and Heritage; the Sub-Committee on Disability, Multiple and Intersectional Discrimination; and the Sub-Committee on the Rights of Minorities. In the negotiations to form the fourthcoalition government under the leadership of ChancellorAngela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Motschmann was part of the working group on cultural affairs and media, led by Monika Grütters, Dorothee Bär and Michael Roth.
Other activities
Deutsche Welle, Member of the Broadcasting Council
Since 2009 Motschmann has advocated for women's right to participate in the :de:Schaffermahlzeit|Schaffermahlzeit, an annual captain's banquet at Bremen City Hall which has historically excluded women. In 2015, for the first time, female guests were invited to the 471st Schaffermahlzeit. She has also advocated for more women on supervisory boards of companies in Germany and for a legally regulated quota for women in leadership positions in the corporate sector. In June 2017, Motschmann voted against Germany's introduction of same-sex marriage.
Personal life
Motschmann married :de:Jens Motschmann|Jens Motschmann, a Lutheran theologian, in 1971. They have three children. She moved to Bremen in 1987 after her husband was hired as a minister at :de:St. Martini |Saint Martin's Church. She is a practicing Lutheran and member of the Evangelical Church of Germany. She supports the ordination of women.
