This paper examines some of the effects of East and West German family policy on women's economic position by analyzing intrahousehold bargaining power, defined here as based on co-resident partners' relative fall-back positions, which in turn depend on the individuals' access to income in the event that the partnership ends. East German policy sought to integrate women into the labor force through programs such as free public child care and liberal maternity leave. West Germany based its family policy on the assumption of a stark gender division of labor, with one lifetime breadwinner per family and a second parent who temporarily leaves the labor force to raise children. On the basis of her findings and analysis, the author argues that while East German institutions increased women's bargaining power, gender-specific policies interfered with women's ability to use this power to bring about changes in the household division of labor. West German family policy did not assign gender roles, but it offered women less bargaining power with which to negotiate. The author maintains that society's refusal to address women's greater child-rearing costs is not based on an assessment of such costs and the costs of redistributive government programs, but on the assumption that women should absorb the risks and burdens of reproduction.Family policy, bargaining power, Germany, child-rearing, costs, housework, household work, socialism,
This study proposes that feminist research be integrated into the field of comparative economic systems (CES) and that CES return to its traditional institutionalist methodologies to facilitate more complete analyses of economic systems and feminist alternatives to these systems and institutions. The study describes the evolution of CES, drawing attention to an increasing reliance on econometric modeling that reflects a shift in focus away from systems. An inventory of research on women and gender that has appeared in CES journals and textbooks finds little on topics other than formal labor markets in transition economies. The study contrasts this literature on women and gender in transition economies to research on this topic by women from transition economies, a literature that CES journal authors do not reference. It concludes by proposing a feminist economics approach that focuses on gender-differentiated impacts of economic systems, analyses of households, and equity as a measure of progress.Economic methodology, feminist theory, economic transition, women, post-socialism, economic systems,
This paper examines differences in the costs and subsidies of childrearing in East and West Germany in 1989–1990. A model of childrearing costs is followed by a review of research comparing the distribution of such costs in East and West Germany and a review of methodology for estimating parents' foregone earnings and leisure. The latter are then estimated, using German Socio-Economic Panel data on households with male–female co-resident parents. These estimates are followed by analyses of the distribution of childrearing costs among mothers, fathers, and the state in each country, based on alternate assumptions regarding household income pooling. Comparative Economic Studies (2003) 45, 63–86. doi:10.1057/palgrave.ces.8100002
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