Angela Merkel grew up in the GDR and quickly made a career for herself in the conservative party CDU after reunification. These experiences shaped her. She had a hard time with gender equality policy for a long time, was an opponent of the quota and to this day hesitates to call herself a feminist. Nevertheless, Germany’s first female chancellor often had to hold her own among loud men. How did she do it? And, what did she achieve for other women?