Families with Small Children in Eastern and Western Europe

Ulla Björnberg, Jürgen Sass

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781138310629
• eBook ISBN:
  9780429860331
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

Published in 1997, the aim of this study is to address comparative perspectives on gender and family life in western and eastern Europe. The focus is on the way in which family policy measures relating to the reconciliation of work and family are viewed and used by employed parents with small children. Another purpose is to consider how compatibility between family and employment is perceived by the parents, and its implications for partnership, gender balance, and parent-child relationships. The book also discusses the consequences and lessons which can be drawn from these studies for the purpose of family policy initiatives.

Part One
The Attitudes of Families with Small Children: A Comparison of Eastern and Western Europe

1 Family policy measures - the parents' view

Gisela Anna Erler, Jürgen Sass

Parental leave in the countries studied

In this first chapter we shall describe the attitudes and expectations of parents in the countries studied with respect to family policy. More specifically we shall, on the one hand, deal with the attitudes and experiences with respect to parental leave allowance/parental leave, and on the other hand with the broader spectrum of family policy measures. Before analysing the parents' views we should like to give a short survey of the situation regarding parental leave allowance and parental leave at the time of the survey in the different countries.

In all the countries studied apart from Germany, at the time of the study parents were entitled to parental leave of at least three years - in Poland this was introduced in 1972, in Hungary as long ago as 1967 and in Russia only in 1990 (it was previously only 18 months). In Hungary two different forms of parental leave exist: a three-year leave (gyes) and a two-year leave (gyed) which differ primarily with respect to the allowance paid. In the GDR until 1990 the regulations of the 12-month "baby year", extended for multiple births. For twins the period was extended to two years, and for triplets to three years, so that in such exceptional cases the GDR regulations were effective until 1993. Otherwise, with German unification the 18-month period of parental leave was introduced in East Germany (Schiersmann 1994).

From January 1992, shortly before the survey was conducted in East Germany - but after completion of the survey in West Germany - in the whole of Germany the current three-year regulation was introduced for the whole of Germany, In 1992 Sweden offered 18 months parental leave (parental insurance) which could be taken until the child's eighth birthday, also in the form of reduced working hours.

Many of the former socialist countries, where women had otherwise worked continuously, had introduced a three-year parental leave with a guarantee of either employment (Russia) or even a specific job (Hungary, Poland) - these regulations were intended as alternatives to expensive day nurseries and to the high absence rates of young mothers due to the frequent incidence of infectious illness in small children in day nurseries. In the major Western European countries, apart from West Germany, such extended universal leave for parents which takes the requirements of the labour market into account does not exist; and in Germany there is no guarantee of employment for women after the parental leave but only protection against dismissal during their leave (Neubauer et al. 1993).

The amount of the parental leave allowance

During the period of parental leave the parents were and still are entitled to a parental leave allowance (every country has its own term for it), either for the whole period or for a specific period. In the former GDR and in Hungary the allowance was linked to the woman's salary, with mothers in the GDR being entitled to at least 70% of their net salary, and in Hungary, for two years, to 75% of their net salary. In the GDR the amount of the maternity benefit was also linked to the number of children, i.e. 70% for one child and a maximum of 90% of the mother's net salary for five children. For single mothers the paid "baby year" was extended to three years, provided that after the first year no place was available in a day nursery. This regulation also applied to married couples, although the mothers were not entitled to maternity benefit for the extension period.

In Hungary the net salary-linked parental leave allowance is paid for two years. There is also the option of a parental leave allowance of half the woman's average monthly salary, which is paid for three years. Since both forms of parental leave are not mutually exclusive, mothers have the option of extending the two-year leave by one more year, although with less money.

Sweden offered compensation for the loss of income of 90% of the salary, limited to one year. In the last six months of the parental leave only a minimum rate was paid which was not linked to the salary. Since 1 July 1994 the period of parental leave has been linked to whether the father takes it or not. Parental leave now comprises 360 days if the father takes at least one month of the leave, otherwise the total leave is only 340 days. Only 20 days are compensated with 80% of the salary of the partner taking the leave and 340 days with 76%.

In Russia allowances are very low and are still only paid for 18 months. On 1 January 1994 a new regulation was introduced linking this monthly parental allowance to the minimum wage, and as our study shows, the living conditions for families in Russia have dramatically deteriorated. In Poland from the outset only very poor families were entitled to parental allowance, i.e. families earning a maximum of 25% of the average income. This means that in Poland for the majority of families parental leave is actually unpaid. Since 1992, however, beneficiaries have been entitled to a pay rise-linked flat-rate allowance.

In East Germany after unification the salary-linked maternity benefit, which was in no way determined by the husband's salary, was replaced by a flat-rate parental leave allowance which is also linked to the family earnings. This involved a massive change in the basis and relative amount of the parental allowance.

In other words, the definitions and concepts of parental allowance vary in the countries studied: in Poland they are social security benefits for poor families, in Germany they are a reward for child-rearing independent of a woman's former employment (yet linked to the husband's or the woman's own salary) and in Sweden, Hungary and the former GDR they are compensation for the loss of income. Since completion of the survey, in Sweden, the former GDR and West Germany the parental allowance has either been cut or made subject to stricter criteria. In Russia and Hungary the allowance has been increased, but without compensating for the massive loss of family income, caused above all by the high rates of inflation.

Beneficiaries

In all the countries studied, in addition to the mothers married fathers were/are also entitled to parental leave allowance and parental leave - with only very few fathers making use of this right. In theory therefore almost all the countries are committed to the concept of the equal partnership of the man and woman within the family. Before unification, grandmothers in the former GDR also had the right to take parental leave and receive parental leave allowance, a right that was however exercised by only very few of them, since grandmothers were mostly still working themselves. In Russia this right has existed since 1990, also for other relatives.

In Germany the new regulation entitles the mother and father to alternate as the recipient of the benefits up to three times; at the time of the survey in West Germany the parents could change round only once. In Sweden alternation is possible without any limitation as to its frequency, without any minimum period being set and without any advance planning being required. Such flexibility between parents does not exist in the other countries. It is only in Sweden and Germany (since 1992) that unmarried and married fathers have an equal right to use these benefits. In Germany there was an urgent need for this new concept, since in East Germany today approximately 41% of all births are illegitimate with a high proportion of young couples cohabiting. In Germany, however, there are still only very few married and unmarried fathers utilizing this right, whilst in Sweden slightly more unmarried than married fathers utilize their right to parental leave.

Utilization and assessment of parental leave

In West Germany the study was conducted in 1991, i.e. shortly before the introduction of the three-year parental leave in January 1992, and in East Germany in spring 1992, i.e. immediately after the introduction of the new regulation, and participants were asked whether they welcomed the extension of the period of parental leave. 80% of the mothers in West Germany and 73% in East Germany strongly approved of the new regulation. Approval by women in full-time employment, who would profit most from such a measure, was however below the average - they generally prefer solutions which enable them to combine family and work.

In East Germany there are two minority groups which consider the extension unnecessary: about 20% of the more highly qualified mothers and women who were undergoing occupational retraining and taking part in work creation schemes - these groups obviously place a higher priority on staying in their jobs than on an extended leave. On the one hand the extension of parental leave is greatly welcomed, also in East Germany. On the other, only 40% of the mothers would if necessary make use of the full three years in view of extension of the leave in East Germany too, the adverse situation that still prevails for women on the labour market, the relatively low parental leave allowance and the fact that for the period of parental leave the women are granted protection against dismissal but no subsequent guarantee of employment.

The findings of our study show clearly that the fundamentally positive attitude of young women in East Germany towards a longer family phase does not imply that among the young mothers there is the widespread desire for a long-term house-wife role or family phase - on the contrary. It is based rather on the idea of a guaranteed return to work, for which many women opt even before the end of the three-year period, as we shall show later. The findings of our study with regard to the unemployment of young mothers in East Germany, and with regard to dismissals during the period of parental leave show that for various reasons the return to work is by no means secured.

There are no recent studies of the return to work of mothers after the end of parental leave, which is probably primarily because the three-year parental leave was only introduced in 1992. However, in East Germany there is evidence of a negative trend: in an inquiry conducted in 1993 (Winkel et al. 1995) it was shown that the employment situation of mothers after the end of the parental leave has considerably deteriorated. While the unemployment rate before the birth of the child was "only" 12.4% (1991), two years later, at the time of the inquiry in 1993 it was 48.2%. 92% of the mothers in East Germany who had a child in 1990 were employed beforehand. From then on the proportion of those employed fell continuously to 63.4% in 1993, while the proportion of those unemployed - as already mentioned - rose accordingly. The proportion of women employed prior to childbirth is thus already similar to that in West Germany. The drop in the employment rate is due primarily to dismissals, often for economic reasons due to the closure of firms, but quite a high proportion (28%) of the dismissals occur shortly after an employee's return from parental leave, to enable the firms to get round the protection against dismissal (Winkel et al. 1995). A third of the mothers who took parental leave were even dismissed during the leave, although this is only permitted with the agreement of the factory inspectorate. According to the results of the inquiry most of these dismissals however took place without the involvement of the inspectorate. An important selection criterion for the dismissal of the women was the qualification level. The dismissal rate of women with a university education was only 8%, but that of women with lower qualifications was 30%.

The results of this study show that the risk of not being re-employed after parental leave is much higher for women in East Germany than it is in West Germany. The birth of a child does not only a represent a change in their personal lives, it also involves considerable risk with respect to returning to work. Given the previous employment patterns of East German women and their strong work orientation this is a burden and a challenge which hardly any of the fathers have to face, even though a much higher proportion of them are unemployed by comparison with West German fathers.

Mainly qualified women return to their jobs before the end of parental leave

The answers to the question as to whether German mothers would actually take parental leave for the full period of three years if they had another baby differ considerably in the two parts of Germany: only 40% of the mothers in East Germany, as compared to two-thirds in West Germany, state that they would take the full three years. As in other instances, there is a striking similarity between the attitudes of the minorities of full-time employed mothers in West Germany (about 10% of our sample) and East Germany: only 44% of them intend to take the full three years. Amongst the more highly qualified mothers (with 'Abitur', the approximate equivalent of A-levels and university degrees) only a quarter would take the full three years. By contrast, 61% of mothers in full-time employment with basic secondary education would stay at home for the full period of parental leave.

Farther analyses suggest that in addition to the qualifications it is also the satisfaction with or the quality of the work (including the career opportunities) that influences the utilization of a three-year parental leave. This means: the more demanding the work - which in most cases depends on the qualification the greater the desire to return to work before the end of the three years. In some respects, e.g. with regard to their career ambitions, the relatively small group of mothers of small children in full-time employment in West Germany are even more job-oriented than the mothers in the former GDR, or in the other former socialist countries surveyed. This is probably due to the need to actively, deliberately put their concept of life into practice in the face of numerous structural impediments, since in Germany permanent full-time employment is by no means the norm for mothers (cf. Chapter 3, Part One).

When the intentions of German women regarding the utilization of the three-year parental leave are compared with actual practice in the other countries, we find that in Poland in particular women return to work before the end of parental leave. Here more than half of all mothers and even two-thirds of the mothers with university degrees return to work before the end of parental leave. In Poland this is mainly due to the low allowance paid during the leave, however many women also give enjoyment of their work as an important reason for their return, and, like the women in the former GDR, are markedly work-oriented (Schulze-Buschoff 1996). In Hungary a third of mothers return earlier, again with a clear differentiation according to qualifications: about a fifth of women with a lower level of education as compared to nearly 60% of the mothers with university degrees returned to work before the end of parental leave, most of them after the first two years when the highest parental leave allowance was paid (Erler et al. 1990).

The fact that in Hungary, by contrast with Poland, mothers are entitled to a relatively high salary-linked parental leave allowance during the first two years, suggests that money is not the only reason for early return. In this case mainly women with a lower level of education on lower salaries would return to work after the period with higher parental leave allowance. For these women, however, the lower allowance is worth more in relationship to their income potential. If parental leave is linked to a higher allowance only for a limited period of time many women, although mainly those with a higher level of education, opt for an early end of the leave. As we know from discussions with experts, this tendency also exists in Germany. Conversely an additional parental leave allowance paid by the Federal "Lander" along these lines often results in longer utilization of parental leave (discussions with experts in the "Lander").

Part-time work during parental leave: in Germany often desired

A third of the West German women and about 50% of the East German women expressed a wish to work part-time during parental leave. The majority of mothers in East and West Germany are also of the opinion that during a three-year parental leave the employer should be required to offer part-time work. This desire for part-time work for mothers was encountered in all the countries studied: everywhere the vast majority of women would prefer part-time work to full-time employment, if they had the choice (cf. Chapter 3, Part One). No matter how much such wishes may differ from the realities, they nonetheless show how mothers would basically like to structure their lives. This desire for part-time work during parental leave has certainly not been granted to the extent implied by the wishes of the mother...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of contributors
• Preface
• Introduction
• Part One: The attitudes of families with small children: A comparison of Eastern and Western Europe
• Part Two: National reports