Sexism row erupts in Germany over female mayor refused invite to all-male charity dinner

'We're celebrating 100 years of women's suffrage in Germany - and the Eiswette still believes it is right to exclude women under the guise of tradition,' says female mayor who was refused invite

One of the mayors in the German port city of Bremen was not invited to take part in the city’s annual black-tie dinner even though Bremen’s main mayor chose her to be his representative (Getty)

A prestigious charity event in Germany has sparked a fierce backlash for refusing to invite a mayor to a dinner because she is a woman.

Karoline Linnert, one of the mayors in the German port city of Bremen, was not invited to take part in the city’s annual black-tie dinner even though Bremen’s main mayor chose her to be his representative.

Senate president Carsten Sieling could not attend the event on Saturday because he had to go to the funeral of Pawel Adamowicz – the mayor of Gdansk in Poland, who was murdered last week.

“The gentlemen of the Eiswette place great emphasis on etiquette. But protocol suddenly doesn’t play a role any more when – horror of horrors – the official substitute for the [male] mayor of Bremen is actually the [female] mayor of Bremen,” Ms Linnert, his female co-mayor, wrote on Facebook.

But the Eiswette (Ice Bet) club refused to bow to pressure and instead gave the place to the male mayor of neighbouring Bremerhaven.

Federal ministers and diplomats are some of the hundreds who attend the event, which requires all guests to dress in smoking jackets.

“We’re celebrating 100 years of women’s suffrage in Germany – and the Eiswette still believes it is right to exclude women under the guise of tradition,” Ms Linnert wrote.

Mr Bremen’s interior senator, Ulrich Maurer, declined to attend the event in order to show solidarity with Ms Linnert.

The president of the club dismissed criticism over the decision not to allow the female mayor, who is the finance senator from the governing coalition’s Greens junior partner, to attend.

“We are a gentlemen’s club and don’t participate in this gender-gaga,” club head Patrick Wendisch told the German daily Bild. “Even the pope wouldn’t have been invited if he were a woman”.

The sexism row has been fiercely criticised in the German media and members of the public have voiced support for Ms Linnert.

“If you really want to embarrass Bremen, you just carry on like this,” Social Affairs Senator Anja Stahmann told Bild. “There has been a mayor present at the Eiswette for 189 years. That’s a tradition too, but the gentlemen threw it overboard just so they can stay together.”