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PARENTAL
LEAVE
IN GERMANY
Scenes from a country going through a (slow) transformation towards equal parenting.
Episode 1:
Who works part-time?
48% of German women work part-time, and only 6% of married women earn more than 2.000 euro/month in Germany. The result? Low pensions and one of the highest maternal penalties in the northern hemisphere.
Episode 2:
Where are the dads?
Despite a 2007 reform that gave fathers and mothers equal access to parental leave, men's participation in Germany is still low. Only one-third of fathers decide to stay home with their children and the vast majority of them only stay for two months.
Big cities in Germany are suffering from lack of preschool, in a country where children under 1 don't have legal right to a spot in public childcare. For many Germans, women are still expected to put their careers on hold when they become mothers.
Episode 3:
What if I don't want to stay home?
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