Sonja Richter
The Double Burden: Maternity Leave and Women’s Employment. A Comparison between Germany and the United Kingdom (Abstract)
MA CESS 2006
Women’s labor market activity after the birth of a child in Germany is similar to trends in the United Kingdom: most women re-enter the labor market working part-time. They have to cope with often conflicting employment and family responsibilities. It is their double burden to meet the claims of the family on the one hand and those of the employers on the other hand.
Whereas Germany is described as a welfare model where women’s benefit entitlement is usually mediated through relations of marriage and family, the United Kingdom is described as a welfare state with a low level of social expenditure and low social protection from the risks and needs of pregnancy/maternity. The decision to leave the labor market to bring up children has got consequences re-accessing it. Different, by the welfare states supported, parental leave periods can affect the quality of the workplace after the childbreak. As a corporatist welfare state, Germany is providing with cash transfers, tax reliefs, paid / unpaid parental leave and public child care services. Britain, corresponding to the liberal welfare model, limits its support to cash-transfers. Neither parental leave or child-related tax allowences, nor public child-care facilities exist.
This thesis will explore the different developments of gender policy in Germany and the United Kingdom as well as their impact on mothers’ decision to return to labour activity which is adequate to their professional level. The focus is put on women with high education and the quality of their workplace after maternal leave. First, it will be analysed how far women’s workplace in Germany and the United Kingdom correspond to their level of education after child break. Secondly, different possible causes which may influence women to continue at the same professional level or to work below their potential after maternal leave will be revealed. For this, maternal leave policy and legal basics in both countries will be analysed in connection with (financial) allowances. Any incentives for women (not) to continue at a workplace which is (not) adequate to their high education will be investigated. Thirdly, the role and influence of the national policies to encourage mothers continuing labour activity on the former level will be elaborated.
The research included in the thesis examines the ambitions and motivations of women in both countries in the light of their gender and employment contract which define the current division of family and labor market roles. The main focus of the research will be put on national policies and their influence on women’s decision to work below their potential after maternal leave. In addition it will be examined if women ‘miss the boat’ on the labor market if they spend too long time on maternal leave confirming the traditional role in the household and childrearing by accepting workplaces which don’t refer to their education.
The cross-national character of the study will contribute to findings in an attempt to identify and illuminate similarities and differences, not only in the observed characteristics of particular institutions, systems or practices, but also in the search for possible explanation in terms of national likeness or unlikeness. It is aimed to achieve a mirror image of different perspectives view to mothers labor activity in Germany and the United Kingdom after maternal leave.
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