Culture, Children and Couple Gender Inequality

Gender Gaps in Early Wage Expectations

“…First, Germany constitutes a special case as it ranges among the European countries with the highest gender gaps (OECD, 2018) and the highest child penalties (Kleven et al, 2019). Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that in (especially West) Germany classical gender roles still intend women to undertake the major share of care work (Jessen et al, 2021, Jessen, 2021. Under such gender norms, it is likely that women with childbearing plans expect to bear most of the care work and thus give up positions in higher management or leadership positions.…”