Differences in women's employment patterns and family policies: eastern and western Germany

Individuals do not react in a simple manner to the incentives and restrictions of a welfare state's policies. The impact of policies on their behaviour is mediated by many factors, primarily cultural, but also social, economic, and institutional. Germany presents an ideal case study of family policies, culture, employment, and child care practices. Though family policies of the central welfare state have remained the same in eastern and western Germany during the last 20 years, the employment patterns of women with preschool children differ systematically in both regions. It will be shown below that in their behaviour regarding employment vis-à-vis childcare, women with young children in both parts of Germany use the options differently. These differences can largely be explained by differences in the cultural values and models of the family in western and eastern Germany, and their interaction with institutional and economic factors in two different development paths.