Political reactions on the financial crisis in Germany show an obvious gender bias: The first wave of the financial crisis hit Germany in 2009. Above all, it affected male workplaces in export-oriented industries and was buffered by public programms and deficit spending. The second wave of the crisis hit in 2010 when the government decided on austerity measures to reduce the budgetary deficit. This second wave affected public spending for social services and thus female-dominated workplaces. Moreover, to cut expenses in family policy, the income-related parenting benefit (introduced in 2007) was abolished for jobless parents. So far, the expansion of public childcare that has been stimulated by a law on the support of children (Kinderförderungsgesetz) in 2008 has not been touched by the austerity measures. However, the implementation of this law lies in the hands of the federal states and the local communities. As local-level financial planning is based on last year’s tax estimations, the third wave of the crisis has not yet hit there. Probably this will change soon, leaving especially those communities destitute which have been hit particularly hard by economic restructuring and increasing social spending in recent years. Moreover, the austerity measures increase the social selectivity of Germany’s family policy: Access to parental leave benefits and to high-quality public childcare will depend stronger than ever on parents’ position on the labour market. However, labour market opportunities are strongly influenced by class, race, and citizenship status. Research on German family policy should therefore integrate an intersectional perspective.
