National Diversity Day 2020

There needs to be the awareness that, regardless of social background, gender, handicapped or not, everyone is welcome at RWTH, and that the community at RWTH is enriched by Diversity.

Niclas Elsen,

I stand up for #VielfaltstattEinfalt because a diverse society means an enriched society of which everyone can be a part.

My name is Hannah and I am the student representative of the Gender Equality Project. One of my main tasks is to gather the needs of the whole student body. This day is of high importance to me as it is an opportunity to gain other perspectives.

To me, Diversity means that all people gain recognition and respect. Equal opportunities and social justice should be guaranteed for everyone.

Saskia Peek, Rectorate Staff Office for Gender and Diversity Management at RWTH Aachen University

To me, Diversity means to fight any form of discrimination so that every person can freely live up to their full potential.

Christine Steffens, Rectorate Staff Office for Gender and Diversity Management at RWTH Aachen University

With diversity we can overcome simplicity! Seren Basogul captures it in the picture with her photo series Cover/Discover, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie brings it to the point: “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.”

Ulrike Brands-Proharam Gonzalez, Equal Opportunities Officer of RWTH Aachen University

It‘s #Diversity that does it! Did you know that companies are 21% more likely to achieve above-average success when women are also represented in top management (source: Diversity Charter)? That's why we at CHEFIN would like to set the #flagfordiversity on today's Diversity Day and hope for more diversity (women) in German companies.

CHEFIN project - Equitable Development of Women's Careers in the MINT Sector, Cybernetics Lab IMA & IfU, RWTH Aachen University

People often ask me what diversity means and what it stands for. I usually answer something like this: Diversity means cultivating openness, solidarity and a respectful and appreciative way of interacting with each other, putting the competence and professionalism of the other person in the foreground, appreciating differences, and counteracting discrimination. Admittedly, when my child asks me that while we are kneading, I'd rather say: it's okay that you are the way you are and that the others are the way they are. The main thing is that we work together well and productively.

Ralitsa Petrova-Stoyanov, Head of the Rectorate Staff Office for Gender and Diversity Management at RWTH Aachen University

For me, community at eye level can only work if there is an understanding of diversity and inclusion. Because both go hand in hand.

Lena, Representative for the interests of students with chronic illness and disability at RWTH Aachen University