Young women feel pressured

Young women feel pressured: women are given a devastating testimony to politics

09/12/2013

For the 25- to 35-year-old generation, financial independence is high on the list of goals to be achieved today. And the men see it that way too. Many feel torn and under pressure from the desire to have children while building a career. This is confirmed by a new study by the Berlin Social Science Research Center (WZB) commissioned by the women's magazine „Brigitte“ and was presented in Berlin.

The policy-driven vision of the full-time mother, who at the same time gives the affectionate family manager, puts enormous pressure on many young women. This is more evident today than it was five years ago when the same group of women and men was questioned about their image of society and self. Women are currently looking for a well-paid job that will open up career opportunities for them.

For 91 percent of respondents, the job and their own money are very important. Surprising for the leader of the study, WZB President Jutta Allmendinger, is the clarity with which men urge that their partner „even provides for a living“.

Today, 76 percent agree with this statement. This is 22 percent more than in 2007. Allmendinger recognizes one in these results „social change“ on the topic of women in the labor market.

It is no longer a question of whether women should go to work or not. „Today no woman has to ask for permission to work. Today, the question is more, if you should have children. The study shows that women today feel left alone in the question of shaping their professional and family life. The fear of being marginalized as a mother is widespread. „If you have children, you can not really make a career“, More than half of young women (53 percent) respond today. Five years ago, it was only 36 percent. On the other hand, 93 percent have a high wish to have children, which has been implemented by less than half. The policy is given a devastating testimony.

But all agree on one thing: social inequality has increased. About a third of women today find it more difficult to reconcile work and family life. In 2007, respondents were less critical of the issue of career opportunities than they are today. At that time, 99 percent agreed with the statement „I'm good at what I do“.

As early as 2009, there were first signs of increasing discontent among women. At that time, they complained that men were preferred to them at work, barely helped at home, and received more recognition for two months parental leave than they did for a whole year. Instead of resigning, they demanded equal wages, fair partnerships and improved childcare.

Women rarely want to pause for more than a year
70 percent of them are „angry that women are discriminated against“, one „binding female quota“ 62 percent agree - according to Allmendinger a remarkable result, because young women reject unlike older women quota rules frequently. Men are less willing to change something. This is particularly evident in their use of parental leave. Although 50 percent of men say they want to reconcile work and family life, 31 percent can not imagine pausing for it. The increased dissatisfaction of women with a lack of advancement opportunities and lack of support is an expression of their current personal situation.

Many women rarely want to stay home for more than a year after the birth of their children. Here, the percentage is 30 percent. In 2009, it was 36 percent. A retraditionalization, as is often assumed in women, as soon as they have children, Allmendinger can not recognize. Nowadays, work is no longer seen as an opportunity for social participation, but as an opportunity „hard economic factor“, says Allmendinger. Many just can not afford to stay home anymore.

Women and men should only work 32 hours
Well-educated women are generally happier with their lives and jobs than they were five years ago. Women with a lower level of education are less satisfied. This dissatisfaction is only topped by less educated men. For education researcher Allmendinger, the ever-widening social gap is a cause for concern, because in the long run children would only get those who can afford help with child-rearing.

Allmendinger warns Germany to continue to rely so heavily on full social employment. Especially as full time here mostly as „40 plus 10“ Hours is defined. In their view, the policy should take care of a reduction of working hours to about 32 hours per week. „If you can make a career with fewer hours, problems such as unequal pay will automatically decrease“, she says. From so-called „mommy tracks“, Allmendinger holds nothing for slower career tracks that set up employers for mothers. (Fr)

Image: Julien Christ