The Gendered Division of Paid and Unpaid Work in Different Institutional Regimes: Comparing West Germany, East Germany and Bulgaria

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

“…Came to replace them a coalition of Social and Christian Democrats, led by Angela Merkel, intensifies the reforms of legal and institutional framework of domestic policy in the Scandinavian-like style (Ziefle, Gangl, 2014;Hofäcker et al, 2013;Lewis et al, 2008;Daly, 2011).…”

“…At the same time, secure employment cover the total period of paid and unpaid leave up to 36 months (Henninger, Wimbauer and Dombrowski, 2008). The researchers point out that the new program not only brings together the German family policy with the most effective models of Scandinavian countries, but also marks a return to the West and the East German models of 1970-1980s, when payments for working mothers (Mutterschaftsgeld) were dependent on the size of the previous earnings (Ziefle, Gangl, 2014;Hofäcker et al, 2013).…”

“…Domestic work, raising children, caring for the sick and elderly are still women's duties -free within the family ties and undervalued in the labour market (Rerrich, 1996;Henninger, Wimbauer and Dombrowski, 2008;Ebert et al, 2014). Given the increasing economic activity, women in German society often face with the phenomenon of the double burden, and the more resources they have the better they cope with the task of finding a work-life balance (Hofäcker et al, 2013). The networks of support of (partially) working mothers include older relatives and hired personnel that assisting them in the childcare and housekeeping.…”

“…I adhere to the hypothesis that at the level of a particular household, this is reflected in a specific division of labor that maximizes the material, social and emotional benefits for all its members, based on institutional and cultural context of the society and individual socio-demographic characteristics of the partners: the class, the level of education, and the family composition (Pfau-Effinger, 1998;Hofäcker et al, 2013;Stoilova et al, 2011).…”

“…Since the mid-2000s, in accordance with European trends, there are significant changes in the labour market and in the private family relations (Lewis et al, 2008) as a respond to the new Scandinavian-like state policy, which can be characterized as egalitarian and gender-sensitive, targeted at achieving the equality of rights and duties of men and women in the public and the private spheres (Spieß, Wrohlich, 2008;Ziefle, Gangl, 2014;Hofäcker et al, 2013;Lewis et al, 2008;Daly, 2011). Studying these processes reveals the mechanism of interaction between changing socio-political environment and more sustainable gender-cultural attitudes of the society (Pfau-Effinger, 2010).…”