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Changing German Attitudes about Child Care

Luis Hernandez shared a fascinating article in The Christian Science Monitor (March 25, 2005), "German Town Promotes Child Care, Sees a Baby Boom," in which Isabelle de Pommereau uses a story about a family friendly town in Germany to provide an update on European child care policies. In part, she observes...

"Public attitudes about - and government support for - working mothers differ widely across Europe.

"In France and Scandinavia, the government takes care of children from the get-go through subsidized child care, universal preschool, and all-day schools. In France, which gives huge tax breaks for each child, mothers have few qualms about going back to work within weeks of giving birth. In Sweden, where child care is paid for by the government, it's understood that most women will return to work.

"But Germans, along with Italians and Spaniards, have traditionally viewed child-rearing as a private, not a public, responsibility. Indeed, child care in Germany is practically nonexistent in government policies, which offer parents monthly cash allowances and give one-income couples more-favorable tax benefits, tending to reinforce the idea of mothers as caretakers.

"In western Germany, just 4 of every 100 children attend day care (though in the former East Germany, that number is 35 percent). In France, 29 percent do; in Denmark, the figure reaches 64 percent....

"....Economic uncertainty, later marriages, and a desire for a different lifestyle have changed German women's views about having children. Because of this, over the past 20 years, Germany's birthrate declined rapidly. Today, the country has one of the lowest birthrates in the world - just 1.4 children per woman....

"Evidence suggests that women work more and have more children in countries like France and Sweden with strong child care infrastructure and all-day schools. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, just 16 percent of German mothers with children under 6 work. In France, the figure is 40 percent; in Sweden, it's 50 percent.

"Some critics insist that good family policy means giving more money to mothers so they can stay home. But Ms. Huelskamp says the national discussion is shifting. This year, the government of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder made child care policies a priority. It committed billions of dollars for communities to build child care and all-day schools. Hundreds of towns have established "Family Alliances," where businesses, politicians, and parents discuss how to make it easier to balance family and work life."

To read this entire article, go to: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0325/p01s03-woeu.html

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