When it comes to childcare, fathers are still less involved than mothers. Father's Day could be cause for protests.

Fathers should demonstrate on Father's Day instead of marching through the woods with polonaises and beer Photo: Jakob Studnar/imago

Thursday is Car Day, also known as Men's Day or Father's Day. A “custom in honor of parents,” says Wikipedia. Unfortunately, there is not much to honor or celebrate in 2024. Even today, most fathers are not equally involved in childcare. On the one hand, this can often be due to the lack of will of some men. On the other hand, those who would like to do so often fail due to financial and structural obstacles. For equal parenting, political changes and parents who demand them are urgently needed.

Currently, 18 percent of all families in Germany are single-parent. According to the Federal Family Ministry, in 9 out of 10 cases it is the mother, i.e. last year there were 1.33 million single women. The microcensus shows that single-parent families are by far the most at risk of poverty among all household types. Studies also show that they are exposed to a particularly high level of psychological and health stress and are more susceptible to illness.

Things are not looking much better for couples: in the Parent Report, in which the Ministry of Family Affairs annually examines the living situation and attitudes of parents in Germany, in 2023 it was irritatingly said in a complimentary tone that one of every two parents You will now be happy to take on half of the care. But when the ministry praises the will, there is apparently no way: because, according to the report, only one in five men implements it. Mothers continue to shoulder a large share of care work, enjoy much longer parental leave and work part-time more frequently.

The consequences can be measured in numbers: according to a 2020 study by the Bertelsmann Foundation, mothers earn on average 40 percent less than women without children and, along with the general income gap between the genders, are affected by a double inequality. Men, on the other hand, do not experience a significant loss of income when they become fathers. In comparison, the situation becomes drastic: just in April, a study by the EconPol Europe network showed that 30-year-old mothers earn on average 70 to 80 percent less than fathers of the same age.

deeply unfair

Heterosexual parenthood in 2024 remains deeply unfair and leaves many women financially dependent on their partners. What this means is obvious: you find it harder to leave violent relationships, you are less able to make life decisions, and you end up earning less pension. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the gender pension gap, i.e. the difference between the average pension of a man and that of a woman, is currently around 40 percent.

These are all figures that could have been different a long time ago. Because family policy could counteract these serious inequalities. Unfortunately, there's a lot of catching up to do here. Although, according to the Ministry of Family Affairs, measures such as parental benefit are not explicitly a “classical social benefit”, but rather a “family benefit and an instrument of equality”, they currently tend to promote a traditional division of labor.

One of the central state benefits for young parents is parental benefit. It is intended to compensate for loss of income in the period after birth and is measured based on the parents' previous income. The concept is often criticized because it ties childcare status to parents' income instead of creating fair basic security.

Most importantly, the payment amount has not changed since it was introduced 17 years ago. The minimum rate remains unchanged at 300, the maximum rate at 1,800 euros. A sum that, especially today, with inflation and loss of purchasing power, is not enough to cover diapers, baby food, clothing and equipment, all the additional costs of a child.

A question of will

For many families, the loss of value means that the person with the highest income can no longer take a break from their job. Simply because otherwise there is not enough money. In a heterosexual relationship, the father is usually still the highest earner. From a purely financial perspective, many families, especially those receiving little parental benefit, depend on the father continuing to work.

High-income families generally have the ability to save for parenthood or reduce their standard of living to fund themselves during the time it takes to reach daycare. In these households, equal parental leave has long been a matter of will. On the one hand, there is very little parental will and, on the other, very little money or very little of both.

Another problem lies in parental leave. Parents of a newborn can have a maximum of 14 months together during which they will receive parental benefit and have protection against dismissal, but only one month of this time at a time. They have to divide the rest between them. Thus, if the mother does not want to return to work or cannot return to work after seven months, for example because she is still breastfeeding, the father will no longer be able to take the same parental leave afterwards.

One in five children is affected by poverty

If you want more time, you have to finance it yourself. Thus, according to the Parents' Report, women enjoyed an average of 14.6 months of parental leave in 2022, while men only 3.6 months, out of the 44 percent who enjoyed it.

Parental allowance and parental leave are important levers. To achieve real equality for parents, a whole series of policy measures would be needed: professions with a high proportion of women must no longer be systematically devalued.

Better compatibility between care work and paid work is needed, such as sufficient living wages to cover retirement, even part-time, as well as more childcare places, more affordable housing and well-implemented basic childcare services. security. And it is important to challenge the wealth and income gap, which ensures that one in five children is affected by poverty.

There are concrete measures that create step-by-step improvements. However, these changes do not occur on their own: they must be demanded. Especially all those men who would like to be more fathers than they are, have a duty here. We must make noise for political changes. Father's Day would be a good occasion for this.