Parental Leave, Parenting Benefits and their potential Effect on Father’s Participation in Germany

In Germany declining birth rates and demographic change led to a new law in 2007, the “Parenting Benefits and Parental Leave Law” (Bundeselterngeld- und Elternzeit-Gesetz). This change in family policy had mainly two aims: (1) to reduce parents’ financial loss in the first year after childbirth, and (2) to encourage fathers to actively participate in childcare by taking parental leave. We analysed the perception of the new law, and its potential to facilitate fathers’ participation, on the basis of 1200 German-wide CATI-interviews of women and men aged 18 to 60. The law’s impact was mainly perceived positively with men reporting high motivation to take leave, but so far this has not manifested itself in official statistics. We conclude that financial benefits and more flexible regulations regarding parental leave, on their own, can have only a limited effect on men’s participation in childcare. These are only a couple of factors among numerous variables affecting these decisions