Reorganising Gender Relations in the German Civil Service: Administrative Reform, The Decline of the Male Breadwinner Model, and Female Employment

Abstract

This article addresses the occupational change resulting from the recent public service reform in Germany and its consequences for gender relations in the civil service. It is argued that the reorientation towards micro-economic conditions brought about by the reform movement has put an end to a traditional concept of the civil service. It is shown that this concept originated in the period when the German civil service was seen as a profession, and that it is closely linked with the role of the man as breadwinner. In addition, the compatibility of the reform with an equal rights policy for the civil service is discussed. The conclusion is that the effects of the reform on gender relations are ambivalent, in that the decline of the male breadwinner model is hastened whereas measures to safeguard equal rights are opposed by the individualising tendency of the reform.