Germany: family policy under Merkel
Audio 02:23
On a street in Berlin on August 24, 2021. (Illustrative image) dpa / picture alliance via Getty I - picture alliance
By: Pascal Thibaut Follow
5 mins
Parental leave, development of nurseries and primary schools open all day: the Merkel era was marked by important advances in family policy.
They modernized German society by making it easier for women to reconcile work and family life.
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From our correspondent in Berlin,
“
When she became Chancellor in 2005, she had a big reform agenda. There is only one of these projects that came true and it was the family revolution.
Ralph Bollmann, the author of a recent biography of Angela Merkel, points out: Germany had a long way to go. The lack of nurseries and schools which catered for children only until midday: so many reasons which explain the greater number of housewives or working part-time in Germany compared to other countries.
“
It was Ursula von der Leyen who wanted women, even as mothers, to have the possibility of fully participating in the labor market.
I am very happy that this was possible
, ”comments Barbara Vinken, author of the book
The German Mother
.
One of the reforms carried out by Ursula von der Leyen, at the time Minister for Families, now President of the European Commission, is the introduction of paid parental leave 2/3 of the net salary so that parents can take take care of their newborn baby until he can go to nursery.
If the fathers participate, the duration of the leave is extended.
Martin Langendorf and his wife were among the first to take advantage of it.
“
It's not entirely up to women to sacrifice themselves for education.
It seems quite normal to me that the father also stays at home for a few months to look after his child, he
confides.
This is a huge development for German society.
"
Under Angela Merkel, significant efforts have also been put in place to develop the nursery places to which parents have a right since 2013, even if deficits remain.
Just before the elections, Parliament passed a law obliging municipalities from 2026 to have primary schools open all day.
Objective: improve the care of children and allow women who so wish to work full time.
Angela Merkel needed the support of the Social Democrats for these advances on issues that are close to their hearts.
In the conservative ranks as within the Catholic Church, this cultural revolution is going badly.
Bavarian social-Christians evoke "diaper training" for fathers who take advantage of parental leave;
the Catholic Church criticizes the development of nurseries contrary to the interests of the family.
So many statements that belong to the past in a country that has become more modern.
This also applies to the CDU, which Angela Merkel has dusted off and modernized.
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Germany
Angela Merkel