Thirty Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall—Do East and West Germans Still Differ in Their Attitudes to Female Employment and the Division of Housework?

Abstract

Previous cross-sectional studies highlight persistent East–West differences in gender ideologies after German reunification. This study examines the extent to which gender ideologies in the East and West have converged and whether differences are still relevant for younger cohorts who experienced childhood around the time of reunification, or after 1989. Using data from the German Family Panel pairfam (2008–2019) and differences in regime-specific socialization for three cohorts born before and after reunification, results reveal that different dimensions of gender ideologies have only partly converged 30 years after reunification. Attitudes towards housework and female employment converged particularly, yet, in all cohorts, views on maternal employment remain substantially different between East and West. Observed convergence occurred only partly due to contrasting trends of modernization in West Germany and re-traditionalization in East Germany. Moreover, the results highlight smaller attitude changes with increasing age, particularly for the younger cohorts, contributing to further variations in East–West differences. Overall, the findings confirm the existence of long-lasting ideology differences due to regime-specific socialization, and a persistently altered composition of society in East and West Germany. At the same time, they point towards slow convergence among younger cohorts due to a more similar institutional and socialization context following reunification.

The extension of late working life in Germany: trends, inequalities, and the East-West divide

“…Distinguishing between western and eastern Germany acknowledges that the country was divided into West Germany andcommunist East Germany between 1949 and1990. This division is still visible, including in differences in attitudes toward female employment and in women's labor force participation rates (Zoch 2021).…”

Can Regional Gender Ideologies Account for Variation of Gender Pay Gaps? The Case of Germany

“…These findings have two important implications for future research. First, going beyond previously invoked differences in gender ideologies between East-and West-Germany (Lee et al 2007;Zoch 2021), the results reveal that further heterogeneity across regional labor markets exists based on compositional differences and varying degrees of norm persistence. Future studies can exploit such regional variation to assess how contextual gender ideologies prompt gendered outcomes while bypassing potential confounding of national idiosyncrasies in cross-national studies (Uunk and Lersch 2019).…”

“…A stark difference can be observed between East and West Germany, with regions of the former GDR being less traditional (depicted in brighter shades in Figure 2b). 8 Beyond this previously highlighted divergence, which can be traced back to the institutional differences during the division (Lee et al 2007;Zoch 2021), Figure 2b indicates evidence of further substantial variation across German labor market regions. For instance, the politically more conservative southern federal States of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg yield more traditional gender ideologies than the rest of West Germany (Diff.…”

“…The institutions and a cultural narrative of gender equality induced liberal gender beliefs to the population of the GDR in the East, while an institutionalized male breadwinner model in West Germany promoted traditional gender ideologies (Trappe et al 2015). Even 30 years after unification, differences endure irrespective of compositional changes and institutional convergences with East Germans being still more supportive of female employment and especially of mother's employment (Lee et al 2007;Zoch 2021).…”

“…However, nations differ on a whole list of socio-political and institutional factors causing national idiosyncrasies to potentially confound results. On a subnational level, studies of Germany highlight more egalitarian attitudes in the former GDR in comparison to West Germany (Lee et al 2007;Zoch 2021). The extent of further regional heterogeneity remains an open question.…”