However, in order to avoid analogies with Nazi Germany, West German politicians tended to reject pro-natalist policies. In West Germany, politicians followed the male breadwinner model, which supported marriage and the traditional division of labour between husband and wife. In the East, childbirth and the employment of both parents were supported, and the dual-earner family was the dominant family model. The two states followed two different policy paths during the division of Germany from 1949 to 1989 (Dorbritz 2008).
Today’s unified nation-state of Germany was, prior to 1990, composed of a conservative welfare state in the West, and a socialist system in the East. The aim of these new policy instruments is to support working parents and to reduce work-family conflicts. The introduction of an earnings-related parental leave system in 2007 and of a legal claim to childcare for children from age one onwards in 2013 were part of a paradigm shift that weakened the male breadwinner family (Ostner 2010). For a number of decades, the German government invested relatively large amounts of money into marriage and family, but the difficulties faced by parents in balancing work and family life remained (Gauthier 1996).
Parental leave (including maternity protection)įamily policies in Germany are currently in a period of transition.