family minister
Spiegel: Pandemic does not endanger equality
Family Minister Anne Spiegel is herself a mother of four children of kindergarten and primary school age. Photo: Kay Nietfeld/dpa
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During the pandemic, it was mainly mothers who looked after the children when daycare centers or schools were closed. Family Minister Anne Spiegel advocates a differentiated approach.
After two years of the corona pandemic, Federal Minister for Family Affairs Anne Spiegel takes a stand for fathers. She does not see any dramatic steps backwards in terms of equality between men and women.
“Corona didn’t turn back equality so quickly. Many fathers who were more committed to the family during the pandemic want to keep it that way in the future,” said the Green politician, herself a mother of four children of kindergarten and primary school age, of the “Bild am Sonntag”.
Studies had shown that the day-care center and school closures during the first corona wave had put a strain on mothers in particular. For employed women with children up to twelve years of age, the time spent on jobs, commuting, childcare and housework increased by eight hours a week in spring 2020, for fathers by just three hours, according to the Institute for Labor Market and Vocational Research of the Federal Employment Agency (IAB ) announced in Nuremberg.
Mothers stay at home with children
According to data from the Institute for Economic and Social Sciences (WSI) of the Hans Böckler Foundation, which is close to the trade union, it is primarily the mothers who stay at home to look after the children and reduce their working hours when daycare centers or schools close due to Corona or an office dies quarantine children. The Greens member of the Bundestag, Beate Müller-Gemmeke, had therefore complained that traditional role models that had long been thought to have been overcome were making a comeback in the world of work as a result of the pandemic.
Spiegel advocated a differentiated approach: “Clearly: mothers were and are very heavily burdened in the crisis,” she said. “But a series of studies show us that fathers were also very involved in the lockdown, when schools and daycare centers were closed.”
In Spiegel’s family, her non-working husband primarily takes care of the children. “As a minister, I travel a lot. But when I have time, I shop, do the laundry and dishes, cook, do the organizational stuff for school and daycare and play with the children.” For her it means total relaxation when she can do housework with her hands. “Honestly, there’s nothing more relaxing for me than having four kids romping around on me.”