After five years of arguments, Germany's proposed childcare allowance is now in political limbo, writes DEREK SCALLY
NOTHING IS simple about German family politics, particularly when it comes to childcare. Looking in on this rapidly ageing society, it can seem as though theoretical, ideological discussions about child rearing have replaced the real-life practice.
With a birthrate of just 1.36 children per woman, one of the lowest in Europe, Germany’s demographic time-bomb has the shortest fuse on the continent. In the past five years, Berlin has launched a series of measures to turn that around. The latest: an allowance for parents who take care of their young children at home.
What sounded like a simple enough idea has turned into a political minefield for federal family minister, Christina Schröder.
The idea is to pay a monthly allowance for each child for two years, from 2013 on, beginning with €100 a month in the first year and rising to €150 in the second. The total estimated cost annually is €2 billion.
Unfortunately for Ms Schröder, the allowance has raised the hackles of women all over the country, even in her own conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
Critics of the allowance, dubbed the “stove premium”, see it as a state-sponsored effort to cement traditional gender roles and a waste of money.
Others say it fails to tackle the central riddle of demographic problem: why Germans aren’t having children. Some suggest it’s a lack of financial incentives, others blame a lack of adequate childcare.
To tackle the former, Berlin introduced a “parents’ allowance” in 2007, allowing mothers and fathers take a year off work after the birth of their child on two-thirds of their pay.
Four years after its introduction, the allowance is very popular and has cost almost €15 billion – nearly €4.5 billion annually. The problem is the annual birth rate is lower now than before.
So is the problem one of inadequate childcare?
Though Germany gave the world the “kindergarten”, the reality of childcare here is surprisingly poor. While a 2009 survey showed two-thirds of parents would like to put their toddlers in daycare, official figures show two-thirds of German children are minded at home.
Kindergarten places can be hard to find and in southern German states, where home-minding is particularly widespread, kindergartens often close at lunchtime.
Add to this a uniquely German social convention where working women who return to their jobs in the months after giving birth are condemned in public as selfish, so-called “raven mothers” by friends, family and strangers alike.
In an attempt to address the lack of adequate childcare facilities, Berlin has promised every child in Germany a state-subsidised kindergarten place by mid-2013.
That prompted a revolt among the CDU’s more conservative sister party in Bavaria, the CSU. It only agreed to back the kindergarten plan if another allowance was introduced at the same time for those who raise their children at home.
While the CSU still back the proposal, the CDU’s other coalition partner, the FDP, is vehemently opposed.
“We were always against the stove premium because it’s utter nonsense as a family policy,” says Doris Buchholz, head of the Liberal Women organisation of the CDU’s junior coalition partner, the FDP.
“If anything, it can only come in the form of vouchers, not cash.”
Some critics worry that the stay-at-home allowance will be most popular among larger, immigrant families where most children are minded at home anyway.
Encouraging this practice with the new allowance will, they say, undermine efforts to encourage early integration and German language skills.
Other critics say that families on lower incomes will collect the cash allowance and spend the money on cigarettes rather than trips to the zoo.
“Of course there are cases like that but that is a minority,” says Schröder. “We can’t accuse all parents just because a majority don’t support their children properly.”
She says the aim is not to boost the birth rate, but to improve the situation of those who choose to have children by offering them financial support regardless of the childcare path they choose.
After five years of arguments, the allowance is now in political limbo, though Ms Schröder is determined to introduce it in 2013 as planned.
Der Spiegelmagazine has suggested Berlin go further to introduce a "sofa allowance": a monthly payment for Germans who don't go to the opera but nevertheless subsidise all opera tickets to the tune of €150 a go.
And what do German parents think?
“It’s an interesting idea but not enough for anyone who would like the option of keeping their child at home,” says Jan (36), a web designer and new father.
Marika, a 38 year-old architect and mother of two, was more outspoken. “They call it a stove premium for a reason: it’s a political sop to the Bavarians to keep their women in the kitchen. I don’t think politics should be trying to influence that,” she says.
BIRTHRATE TABLE
Children per woman 2009
Ireland 2.07
France 2
UK 2
Poland 1.4
Germany 1.36
Portugal 1.32
EU average: 1.6