Family Policies in Germany

The Impact of the Family Policy on the Transformation of Gender Roles in the Professional and Private Spheres on the Example of German Society

“…In 1992, the birth rate has reached a record low of 0.8 children per woman, and despite the fact that researchers observed a significant decline in fertility in all former socialist countries (Frejka, Sobotka, 2008;Billingsley, 2010), there was unprecedented case (Winkler, 1990;Goldstein, Kreyenfeld, 2011;Oliver, Mätzke, 2014). The attempts of the new authorities to stimulate monetary the situation proved to be ineffective in the absence of the other components of social security (Leitner et al, 2008). (Bütov, 1992: 48) (Adler, 1997: 45-46).…”

“…Among the most notable trends is the growing number of working women, mainly due to the transition of housewives to the different patterns of underemployment (one-and-a-half-earner family; Lewis 2001: 145), often in the tertiary sector. Thus, there was a further spread of two-career model of the family economy, though, with maintaining the predominance of female workers in the private sphere and the male dominance in the public sphere (Leitner et al, 2008;Rosenfeld, Trappe and Gornick, 2004;Hanel, Riphahn, 2012). This pattern of gender relations was called modernized male breadwinner model (Pfau-Effinger, Sakac-Magdalenic 2010).…”

“…To put it in other words, the state was supported not individuals, but the statuses they occupy and obligations they perform -husband to his wife, parents to children, relatives and neighbors to each other (Leitner et al, 2008). The deviation from the desired standards led to economic sanctions and social deprivation, which was experienced by non-registered couples, single mothers and children born out of wedlock.…”

“…The social contract in the GDR was based on the substantial support of the households by the state, which subsidized directly or indirectly about 80% of the child costs by the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall (Leitner et al, 2008), and thereby freed women to the active paid employment. The society responded to this policy in the form of high and early fertility among all European countries, while in the western part of the country the opposite demographic trends have been observed since the 1950s and virtually have not reacted to attempts to correct them.…”

“…In the European academic discourse the modern approach to the family policy is connected with the demand for sustainability (Family experiment, 2010: 3;Leitner et al, 2008), understood as the ability to respond flexibly both to the changing parameters of the environment and on the personal demands of individuals looking for a balance between the work and the life. The most essential task of the sustainable family policy is to preserve the viability of the family in the conditions of individualization, multiplication and de-standardization of its forms.…”