In our new category, „SOCIA Outlook,“ we want to try to regularly focus our attention on the situations of women* in working life in NGOs, in the consulting business, and in leadership positions.

At the end of the summer holidays, Joana Ebbinghaus answered our questions. We are already looking forward to the answers from Julia Hoffman and the other women from our SOCIUS NextWerk. We are sure that some of our colleagues will also be interested in answering the questions. 

What do you think is the best way to change society? 

Be alert and go through life with your eyes open. Speak up when your values are violated or when you are confronted with structural injustices. Focus on what unites us, not what divides us, and work together where opportunities arise.

How did you get your job? 

Somehow fateful. After 13 years abroad in development cooperation, without any significant networks in my home city of Berlin and struggling to build a new professional life for myself, two very different contacts led me to SOCIUS. One gave me the recommendation: Just give them a call, I think you would be a good fit for them. The other contact had a more concrete offer: to take over and continue planning that had already begun for cooperation in the area of training for international NGOs. A brief get-together, a wild St. Nicholas celebration, an enormous amount of trust and a lot of intuitive gut feeling on both sides: we would like to work together!

What do you want to achieve with your job?

Touching people. By becoming aware of their own potential, skills and scope for action, by encountering each other in new ways, by being in contact, by unearthing treasures together, by developing effectiveness, by illuminating unlit corners, by shaking things up, by changing the world.

What profession did you want to learn when you were a girl? 

Researcher and explorer – finding the mythical gold of the Incas or exploring some blank spot on the map.

Who or what do you admire?

In my work, I repeatedly encounter people whom I deeply admire:

In Indonesia, the many NGO activists I have met who never give up fighting for the rights of marginalised people, the protection of natural resources or against corruption and exploitation – even when the struggle often seems hopeless. In other words, standing up for one's own integrity.

And the many people I have encountered in counselling situations who are willing to face their own demons, to show themselves as passionate, angry, ignorant, vulnerable or wounded, in order to learn and grow from it.

What does your dream of a better world look like? 

A world without war, hatred, poverty and hunger, in which people treat all beings and this world with respect and care.

What does success mean to you? 

To do something as well as I could.

Which mistake have you learned the most from?

Better to pay attention to my own limits.

Do you see yourself as a role model? 

As a mother, it is probably the only way to give my children something to take with them on their journey through life.

Do you have a principle that you live by?

Viktor Frankl: „Between stimulus and response lies the space of inner freedom. The size of this space is determined by our own attitude.“ What a relief, and what a challenge!

What does feminism mean to you? 

Both equal opportunities and solidarity. And a great deal of inner freedom, which must be seized.

How do you exemplify feminism in your team?

I don't think I need to set an example for anyone, but rather live my life. Point out injustices, encourage women to make themselves heard and get involved. Give up some of my own freedoms.

How do you try to improve the visibility of minorities in your team?

In our own team, the main thing is that we want to become more diverse. Otherwise: slowdown.