Differences in women's employment patterns and family policies: eastern and western Germany

Abstract

Individuals do not react in a simple manner to the incentives and restrictions of a welfare state's policies. The impact of policies on their behaviour is mediated by many factors, primarily cultural, but also social, economic, and institutional. Germany presents an ideal case study of family policies, culture, employment, and child care practices. Though family policies of the central welfare state have remained the same in eastern and western Germany during the last 20 years, the employment patterns of women with preschool children differ systematically in both regions. It will be shown below that in their behaviour regarding employment vis-à-vis childcare, women with young children in both parts of Germany use the options differently. These differences can largely be explained by differences in the cultural values and models of the family in western and eastern Germany, and their interaction with institutional and economic factors in two different development paths.

Mit ihrem Verhalten reagieren die Individuen nicht einfach auf Anreize und Restriktionen der Familienpolitik. Der Einfluss der Politiken auf das Verhalten wird insbesondere durch kulturelle Faktoren und weiter auch durch soziale, ökonomische und institutionelle Faktoren modifiziert. Deutschland eignet sich in besonderer Weise dazu, den Zusammenhang von Familienpolitiken, Kultur, Frauenerwerbstätigkeit und Praktiken der Kinderbetreuung zu analysieren. Obwohl Ost- und Westdeutschland seit zwei Jahrzehnten unter dem Einfluss derselben Familienpolitik des deutschen Wohlfahrtsstaates stehen, unterscheiden sie sich erheblich im Hinblick auf die Erwerbsbeteiligung der Mütter kleiner Kinder und die Muster der Kinderbetreuung. Frauen nutzen die Optionen der Familienpolitik in Ost- und Westdeutschland jeweils unterschiedlicher Weise. Dies lässt sich, so das Argument, vor allem mit Differenzen in den vorherrschenden kulturellen Leitbilder zur Familie erklären und damit, wie diese mit institutionellen und ökonomischen Faktoren in zwei unterschiedlichen Entwicklungspfaden interagieren.

Keywords:

• family policies
• culture
• West and East Germany

Stichwort:

• Familienpolitik
• Kultur
• West- and Ostdeutschland

Notes

1. To differentiate between the two different German states during 40 years of separation, the terms ‘former East German state’ and ‘former West German state’ are used, and for identifying both parts of Germany after unification ‘eastern Germany’ and ‘western Germany’ are used.

2. It would be useful to also include here the development of the participation rates of women in the labour force in relation to the age of children for both parts of Germany. However, these data are not part of the official statistics.

3. Culture is defined here as: ‘the system of collective constructions of sense by which people define reality, that complex of general ideas by which they distinguish what is important or not, what is true or wrong, what is good or bad, beautiful or ugly’ (Neidhard, 1986, p. 11). This ‘complex of general ideas’ consists of values and models.

4. An alternative option, much less used, was to receive a higher benefit of 450 euros per month for one year.

5. If parents choose parental leave of two years, they get half of the monthly pay.

6. Those parents who were not active in the labour force before the child was born still get 300 euros per month on the basis of a means-test in relation to their household income. Unemployed parents receive the benefit for at maximum one year.