Many women are putting themselves behind in their careers, even though their salary and career are usually just as important to them as they are to men. This is shown by a new study that also shows how powerful traditional role models still are. According to this, every second working woman in a relationship does the household work alone or mainly. 70 percent take on care work such as childcare alone or to a large extent.
“A long time ago, the working world was constructed in such a way that the man, as the main provider, came home from work in the evening and had someone to take care of everything at home,” says Alexandra Wuttig from the IU International University, where the study comes from. “Women had to see how they could somehow reconcile a career with having children. This basic structure has often changed little.”
Official data already shows what differences there are in Germany. This only works well ten percent of men Part-time, but half of women – far more than the European average (30 percent). And this despite the fact that their career aspirations differ little, as the IU University found out in a series of surveys. Accordingly, a majority of men and women find earnings important. And only a minority don’t care about leadership positions.
“Women are just as interested in earning money and advancing in their careers as men,” reports IU Chancellor Wuttig. “The fact that they don’t want management jobs, as we’ve heard for a long time, is simply not true.” At the same time, there are more and more men who no longer want to work 80-hour weeks. “We have to rethink work,” demands the professor.
In reality, there is still a lot of traditional role behavior to be seen – especially when the offspring arrive. Eleven percent of all women surveyed gave up their leadership positions because they became mothers. One in five changes their career goals because of their children. As a rule, they work less or forego a career job. “Role models often solidify through parenthood,” observes IU human resources professor Malte Martensen. “Fathers want to earn more money, women are rethinking their professional goals. Social pressure, structures and clichés reinforce these behaviors, which are reflected in employment rates and career paths even years later.”
The fact that many women are cutting back on their careers is no surprise because, according to their own statements, they take on a large part of the childcare and housework. The view on this differs depending on gender. Significantly more men than women say they share family or housework equally. Which doesn’t add up mathematically. Mann Martensen appeals: “Men need to get more involved.” He sees further obstacles for working women. For example, a “glaring gap in the provision of childcare that cannot be justified by anything and is almost always made up for by women.” He therefore suggests investing heavily in the training of educational staff and the expansion of daycare centers.
Alexandra Wuttig would like companies to join forces with the state in order to make it easier for women to work – whether through more care or flexible working, for example in the home office or with more flexible scheduling. “When I started my career, the later you turned off the lights in the office, the better an employee you were. It shouldn’t be like that anymore.” Many companies did embrace the change. But some could still catch up. Only one in ten employees receives childcare support from the company. And one in five employees experience no effort by the company to enable flexible working. Wuttig promotes a cultural change towards real family friendliness. With initiatives like the SAP Group, which allows fathers to stay at home for six weeks after the birth of their children.
Scientists demand that parental leave should increase the chances of promotion
Initiatives that are intended to promote the compatibility of family and work only partially achieve their goal. Around 40 percent of the men and women surveyed fear that parental leave will have a negative impact on their salary and career. Only one in four fathers takes time off for their children, while in Sweden it is one in two. The scientists envision stronger financial incentives. And they are making an unusual appeal to companies: They should give mothers and fathers a higher chance of promotion after parental leave, since the time off for children is “further training in social skills.”
Wuttig wants to eliminate monetary incentives that work against female employment. For example, through a reform of spouse splitting, which grants single-earner marriages the greatest financial advantage: “So far, the classic marriage, in which only the man works, is the best from a tax perspective.” Society often does not view it favorably when mothers return to work soon after giving birth. Wuttig suggests always examining new laws to see how they affect equality. And she advocates for more financial education in schools. “Many women don’t seem to understand what it means when they work fewer hours, become financially dependent on their partner and later have no pension provision of their own.”
Demographic change makes it more urgent than ever to encourage women to work without making it difficult to have children. “We have a labor shortage. We can neither do without women in the labor market nor without children who enter the workforce later as adults and pay into the pension funds.”