Dare to Share: Germany's Experience Promoting Equal Partnership in Families
This review introduces the background to and issues at stake in promoting equal partnerships
in families in Germany. It encourages German policy makers to build on the important
reforms since the mid-2000s to enable both fathers and mothers to have careers and
children, and urges families to “dare to share”. To those ends it places Germany’s
experience in an international comparison, and draws from the experience in, for example,
France and the Nordic countries which have longstanding policies to support work-life
balance and strengthen gender equality. The review starts with an overview chapter
also explaining why and how equal sharing pays for families, children, the economy
and society as a whole. The book presents current outcomes, policy trends, as well
as detailed analysis of the drivers of paid and unpaid work and how more equal partnerships
in families may help sustain fertility rates. The book examines policies to promote
partnership, looking both at persistent shortcomings and progress achieved through
reform since the mid-2000s. The book includes a set of policy recommendations designed
to enable parents to share work and family responsibilities more equally.
Published on February 20, 2017Also available in: German