Demography as a Push toward Gender Equality? Current Reforms of German Family Policy

Abstract

The paper analyzes the policy objectives and (potential) outcomes of one of the recent reforms in German family policy, the new par- enting benefit. The reform introduces not only a new policy instru- ment that puts a stronger focus on the labor-market activation of mothers but also a new policy objective: an attempt to raise the birth rate. We argue that this indicates a paradigm shift in German family policy, as it changes the interplay between (de)familializa- tion, (de)commodification, and stratification. While the new para- digm offers better opportunities for highly qualified parents, it also leads to increasing social inequalities between families and, more specifically, mothers. In comparative welfare-state research, Germany is regarded as a conservative welfare state. In contrast to the social-democrat regime that provides public care services and to the liberal welfare regime where private services dominate, the conservative regime Fall 2008