equality
noun · Gleichheitssatz
The German word depends on the setting. The constitutional principle is the Gleichheitssatz, Art. 3 GG, which binds the state; equal treatment between private parties is Gleichbehandlung, governed by the AGG; equality of the sexes is Gleichberechtigung. And the Gleichheitssatz binds public power, not private parties directly.
Which translation, when
Why
Equality has no single German word, and the choice is consequential. The constitutional principle is the Gleichheitssatz of Art. 3 GG. Its general clause, Art. 3 Abs. 1, that all people are equal before the law, forbids the state to treat essentially alike cases differently, or essentially different cases alike, without a sufficient objective reason; the Bundesverfassungsgericht began with a bare Willkürverbot, a ban on arbitrariness, and tightened it into a graduated proportionality test where a differentiation bears on persons or on the exercise of freedoms. Special guarantees follow in Art. 3 Abs. 2, equality of the sexes, Gleichberechtigung, and Abs. 3, the prohibitions on disadvantage by sex, descent, race, language, origin, faith, belief or disability. The decisive point for translation is reach: Art. 3 binds the state, Art. 1 Abs. 3 GG, and reaches private relations only indirectly; a private employer is bound not by Art. 3 but by statute, the Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz. So the term must fit the setting: Gleichheitssatz for the constitutional guarantee, Gleichbehandlung for equal treatment among private parties, Gleichberechtigung for equality of the sexes, and rendering a private-law equal treatment claim as a breach of the Gleichheitssatz points at the wrong duty-bearer.
Typical mistakes
- The Gleichheitssatz of Art. 3 GG binds the state, not private parties directly; equal-treatment duties between private parties come from the AGG, so invoking Art. 3 against a private employer points at the wrong source.
- Equality splits by context: Gleichheitssatz for the constitutional principle, Gleichbehandlung for equal treatment among private parties, Gleichberechtigung for equality of the sexes, so one blanket word misfits.
- Art. 3 Abs. 1 GG forbids unequal treatment without an objective reason, not every distinction, so reading it as a command of identical treatment overstates it.
What matters
Advising on an equality question, the translation has to fix the setting first: Gleichheitssatz, Art. 3 GG, for a complaint against the state, but the AGG and Gleichbehandlung for a claim against a private employer, and Gleichberechtigung for equality of the sexes. Rendering a private-law claim as a breach of the constitutional Gleichheitssatz names the wrong duty-bearer.
What the machine misses
Machine output renders equality with one word, usually Gleichheit or Gleichberechtigung, whatever the setting. It loses that the constitutional Gleichheitssatz, Art. 3 GG, binds the state and reaches private parties only indirectly, while equal treatment between private parties runs through the AGG as Gleichbehandlung, and that Gleichberechtigung is specifically equality of the sexes. The rendering blurs which duty-bearer and which body of law is in play.
Examples
| the principle of equality before the law | der Gleichheitssatz |
| equal treatment in employment | die Gleichbehandlung im Arbeitsverhältnis |
| equality of women and men | die Gleichberechtigung von Frauen und Männern |
| without an objective reason | ohne sachlichen Grund |