Heike Trappe

Occupational Sex Segregation and Family Formation in the Former East and West Germany

This article examines patterns of occupational sex segregation for women and men born in the 1950s and early 1960s in the former East and West Germany prior to unification. Given the nature of family policies, we had expected to find an increase in the gender-typicality of occupations as individuals married and had children especially in the West. Yet, despite high levels of occupational sex segregation and clear evidence of the “holding power” of gender-typical occupations for both countries, we found almost no support for the neoclassical notion that family formation influences the gender type of an occupation. This is consistent with previous U.S.-based research.

Work and Family in women's lives in the German Democratic Republic

This article examines the impact of changing social policies on strategies to balance family responsibilities and employment used by women who were living in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). New life-history data for 4 birth cohorts that cover the different periods of this socialist societys 40-year existence allow comprehensive analyses of womens life courses. In the context of changing levels of support to combine work and family, the article attempts to show what strategies women used and how their chances for upward mobility were influenced by these adjustments. Systematic differences regarding labor force participation, quality of work, and adaptations to family demands are revealed among women who entered the labor force and formed their families at different times. The considerable change in womens employment patterns can only be explained by taking into account the social policies that were embedded in womens opportunity structures.

Occupational sex segregation in state socialist and market economies: Levels, patterns, and change in East and West Germany; 1980s and 1998

From 1949 to 1989, East Germany was a state socialist society, while West Germany remained capitalist. In 1990, the East again became one country with the West. What were the level and nature of occupational sex segregation in the former East and West Germany in the decade before reunification? How had East/West differences in occupational sex segregation changed by the end of the first decade after unification? Much of the discussion about changes with unification is based on the assumption that in the GDR compared with the West, there was less overall segregation and more integration especially of predominatelymale occupations because of the Easts stronger ideology of gender equality and higher need for labor. Such arguments fail to take into consideration East Germanys higher rate of womens labor force participation, more extensive support for working mothers, and slower development of the service sector. In this paper we use detailed occupational information from 1980s East and West German population censuses and from the 1998 German micro-census. We recode occupations to be comparable across surveys using the 1988 International Standard Classification of Occupations. We find that before 1989, the East had a higher level of occupational gender segregation and more concentration in predominantly female occupations. It also had somewhat more integration of “male” jobs and a greater overall range of occupations for women than in West Germany. By 1998, these patterns had largely converged to those of the West.

Väter mit Elterngeldbezug: Nichts als ökonomisches Kalkül?

Zusammenfassung Mit der seit dem Jahr 2007 geltenden Neuregelung von Elterngeld und Elternzeit war neben anderen Zielen eine stärkere Einbeziehung von Vätern in die Kinderbetreuung beabsichtigt. Im Zentrum des Beitrags steht die Inanspruchnahme des Elterngeldes durch Väter unter Berücksichtigung sozialstruktureller Merkmale und çkonomischer Ressourcen beider Partner. Auf der Basis des Datensatzes „Junge Familien 2008“ (RWI Essen) wird analysiert, welche Gruppen von Vätern einen Partnerantrag stellen. Für zwei ausgewählte norddeutsche Bundesländer werden Daten der Elterngeldstellen ausgewertet, um die Aufteilung der Bezugsdauer innerhalb der Partnerschaft zu untersuchen. Ökonomische Abwägungen sind für die Entscheidung zum Elterngeldbezug von Vätern und für die Dauer ihrer Elternzeit von erheblicher Bedeutung. Einige Untersuchungsbefunde, wie ein längerer väterlicher Elterngeldbezug aufgrund einer besonderen Lebenssituationen der Partnerin (z. B. einer selbstständigen Beschäftigung oder einer Ausbildung), weisen jedoch über ausschließlich çkonomisch basierte Erklärungen hinaus. Summary The parental leave benefit reform which was enacted in 2007 in Germany aimed among other things at increasing fathers’ involvement in childcare. This paper analyzes the degree to which fathers claim parental leave benefits in the context of couples’ social characteristics and economic resources using the data set “Young Families 2008” (collected by the RWI Essen). In two select federal states in the Northern part of Germany, a further reaching investigation was conducted as to how parental leave is distributed within couples by using administrative data provided by local authorities. In general, the results show that economic considerations are of great importance for men’s decisions to take any parental leave at all, or to do so for an extended period. Further analyses indicate that economic explanations do not fully account for men’s parental leave decisions under certain circumstances of the female partner such as self-employment or participation in training or further education.

Familienkulturen in Ost- und Westdeutschland: Zum Gerechtigkeitsempfinden der Arbeitsteilung innerhalb der Partnerschaft

Auch nahezu 25 Jahre nach dem Fall der Mauer gibt es fortbestehende Unterschiede in einigen Dimensionen familialen Verhaltens, im Erwerbsverhalten von Frauen sowie in bestimmten Einstellungsbereichen zwischen Menschen in den alten und den neuen Bundeslandern. Prominente Beispiele dafur sind das in Ostdeutschland im Durchschnitt fruhere Alter bei der ersten Geburt und der hohere Anteil nichtehelicher Geburten, die hohere Erwerbsbeteiligung von Frauen und insbesondere Muttern sowie die liberaleren Einstellungen zu Geschlechterrollen und zu den Konsequenzen der Frauenerwerbstatigkeit (Blohm 2013; Huinink et al. 2012).

Chancen West, Chancen Ost - Frauen und Männer des Geburtsjahrgangs 1971 im Vergleich

Dieses Kapitel untersucht, ob junge Frauen und Manner in ihrer Ausbildung und den ersten Jahren ihrer Erwerbstatigkeit unterschiedliche Chancen haben. Die 1971 in West- und Ostdeutschland Geborenen waren zum Zeitpunkt des Mauerfalls 18 Jahre alt Einige wesentliche Entscheidungen, wie die fur eine bestimmte Schullaufbahn und ganz uberwiegend auch die fur eine erste berufliche Ausbildung, waren somit unter den Bedingungen der deutschen Teilung und der damit verbundenen Systemunterschiede gefallen. Andere Weichenstellungen, wie zum Beispiel die fur eine konkrete Erwerbstatigkeit oder fur die Grundung einer eigenen Familie, waren hingegen unter den veranderten gesellschaftlichen Bedingungen im vereinigten Deutschland zu treffen. Der tief greifende Systemumbruch, der durch Institutionentransfer und beschleunigten sozialen Wandel nur knapp beschrieben ist, brachte fur ostdeutsche Jugendliche radikalere Einschnitte und Veranderungen als fur westdeutsche Jugendliche mit sich. In Ostdeutschland handelt es sich somit um eine „Ubergangskohorte“ zu einem veranderten Lebensverlaufsregime junger Menschen, wahrend in Westdeutschland im Vergleich zu alteren Kohorten eher graduelle Veranderungen zu erwarten sind.

Fertility Ideals of Women and Men Across the Life Course

This paper explores the stability of women’s and men’s fertility preferences across the life course. The data come from the first six waves of the German Family Panel (pairfam), which span the period from 2008/2009 until 2013/2014. In our analysis, fertility preferences are measured using the following question: “Under ideal circumstances, how many children would you like to have?” The average number cited by both women and men is 2.2. With rising age, this number declines modestly. Relying on fixed-effects modelling, we find that neither partnership status nor economic circumstances have any causal effect on fertility preferences. However, as the number of children a respondent has increases, his or her ideal number of children is also likely to grow. Thus, fertility ideals appear to undergo changes over time, and are adjusted in line with the size of the respondent’s own family.

Assisted Reproductive Technologies in Germany: A Review of the Current Situation

In this chapter, I examine the increasing societal relevance of assisted reproduction. First, I outline the legal framework and the rules regarding the assumption of costs for assisted reproduction, with a particular focus on Germany. This is followed by an overview of the main assisted reproduction procedures, and a summary of which of these procedures are legally permitted or prohibited in Germany. I then show how the utilisation of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) has developed over time, and describe the available methods for measuring their success. I conclude the chapter with a discussion of the social and ethical implications of the increased use of ART for individuals in different living arrangements, and of the shifting meanings of motherhood, fatherhood, and kinship. A broad societal debate in which the opportunities and implications of ART are realistically evaluated is certainly warranted.