OECD No gender equality in Germany

OECD study: Germany with a large pay gap between men and women

17/12/2012

Women in Germany have a difficult job professionally. In leadership positions, their share is still far too low, their salary is on average significantly below that of men, and in old age they are increasingly threatened with poverty in old age, according to a recent study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The OECD has examined occupational gender equality in its Member States, with clear national differences. Germany is terribly bad in international comparison. Hardly any other country has such large income differences between men and women. Of the 34 OECD countries surveyed, Germany ranked third worst in the gender pay gap. For middle-income jobs, women earn about 22 percent less than men. Also, the women work much more often part-time, which is „often has a negative impact on professional advancement“, reports the OECD. As a result, the gender pay gap increases with age and is three times higher among over-40s than it is among younger workers. Overall, only 28 percent of executives in Germany are women. For the members of the management and supervisory boards of listed companies, women only achieve a share of six percent, reports the OECD.

Many women in Germany work part time
Obviously, the past efforts to equalize women in the occupational sector in this country have borne little fruit. While there is still much debate in politics about whether a women's quota, for example, also makes sense for executives, the OECD has now issued Germany a sobering testimony regarding professional equality. Anyone who thought gender equality, has long since lived in Germany, has to be taught something better. The gender-specific income differences are more pronounced in this country than in any other country. This applies to both employment and freelance work, where women earn on average 63 per cent less than men (OECD average 34 per cent). More than half of the general gender pay gap in Germany, according to the OECD, is due to the high proportion of part-time work among women. In Germany, 62 percent of women between the ages of 25 and 54 work part-time, according to the head of the OECD's Social Policy Department, Monika Queisser.

Extreme pension gap between men and women - women threatened poverty in old age
Although the share of working women in Germany is 68 percent higher than the OECD average of 60 percent, many work only part-time because they take care of the child and housework at the same time. For example, the proportion of children aged up to three who are cared for during the day is remarkably low at 18 percent in Germany, according to the OECD. An improvement could be here, according to Monika Queisser by the expansion „good and affordable child care“ to reach. This could also help reduce the huge pension gap between men and women. Because of the shorter contribution careers, fewer working hours and lower incomes, women in Germany have on average around 50 percent less pension than men. With this gender pension gap, Germany is sadly the leader in the OECD. As a result of the low pension in this country, ten percent of pensioners living in poverty, according to the results of the current study. Two-thirds of retired Germans are women.

Women better qualified than men, but less professionally present
The lower income of women is increasingly in conflict with the actual qualifications. According to the OECD, young women in particular are often better educated in this country than men. Today, 27 percent of women between the ages of 25 and 34 have a degree from a university, college, or masters degree (tertiary education), compared to just 25 percent of men. Nevertheless, women are less present in their job. In addition to the weaknesses in childcare provision, the choice of subject also plays an important role here. For example, according to the OECD in 2009, only 16 percent of tertiary IT graduates were women, while their share of tertiary health and social care was 70 percent. „These study choices are more likely to be explained by attitudes than by gender-specific talents“, explains the OECD and therefore called for the „typical gender roles from an early age in question“ deliver.

Political decisions threaten to harden differences
Germany's poor performance in the current study is, according to the OECD, also due to a number of legal peculiarities. So have Germany in „As a result of spouse splitting, it is the only tax and social system in the OECD where it is not worthwhile for parents of school-age children to work both parts.“ The latest decision by the federal government to introduce the highly controversial childcare allowance for children between the ages of 13 and 36 months may also motivate mothers with infants to resign from their careers and devote themselves to childcare at home. That way would become „to consolidate the already considerable differences between men and women in the German labor market“, this is the assessment of the OECD. However, some policy decisions have also been positive. For example, since the reform of parental leave, significantly more fathers have taken time off for their children. While in 2007 only 9 percent of fathers were concerned, the share in the second half of 2012 was already 25 percent. Here is „Germany on the right track“, stressed the head of the OECD department for social policy, Monika Queisser. (Fp)

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