Monika Barz was born in Castrop-Rauxel, near Dortmund. Her early training was in Mathematics and in Sports Education, after which she became a lower and middle school teacher. She studied for her degree level teaching qualification at the University of Tübingen. She then received her doctorate from Leibniz University Hannover with a dissertation concerned with the situations of lesbian women in the churches. After this, based in Loccum she spent many years working in adult education and women's education, also involving herself in local politics. She became involved in the :de:Frauenbewegung in Deutschland|German women's movement. She was a co-founder of the Women's refuge in Tübingen and of an emergency helpline for assaulted women operated from Nienburg/Weser. In 1985 she joined with Herta Leistner and Ute Wild to organise what became the first of a succession of annual lesbian meetings at the :de:Evangelische Akademie Bad Boll|Evangelical Academy in Bad Boll, and was then one of the organisers of the event each year till 1997. In 1987 Barz, Leistner and Wild published the book "„Hättest Du gedacht, dass wir so viele sind? Lesbische Frauen in der Kirche.". Taken together, the book and the :de:Evangelische Akademie Bad Boll|annual Bad Boll lesbian meetings triggered a response across the German speaking world: the annual meetings became a protected space in which lesbian churchwomen were able, for the first time, to create networks and collaborative quasi-political structures. New groupings emerged such as LUK, the MuM in Bad Boll, and later the "Labrystheia" and NKL networks. In 2012 Monika Barz was herself a co-founder of the LSBTTIQ Baden-Württemberg network which drew together around 100 organisations and initiatives from the LGBT sector in the region. Between 1993 and 2016 Monika Barz was employed as a professor at the :de:Evangelische Hochschule Ludwigsburg|Protestant University of applied sciences in Ludwigsburg where she taught "Theory and Practice of Social Work with Girls and Women". The focus of her research work was on Women's and Gender studies. Between 1995 and 2013 she served on the executive of the :de:Deutscher Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband|Equality Welfare Association for Baden-Württemberg: during 2014 and 2015 she served on its supervisory council. For her years of commitment and dedication she was honoured in 2016 with the "Golden pin-badge".
Politics
From 1985 till 1993 Monika Barz was a local councillor in Nienburg/Weser, representing the little known "Voters' Initiative for Democracy and Environmental Protection" party. In 2016 she stood for election to the Bundestag as a candidate for the German Green Party, but it appears to have been her first step into mainstream national politics at this level, and her name was too far down on the party list for her to stand a realistic chance of election.
