Beschäftigung (FS I) Research Area Labour Market and Employment Forschungsschwerpunkt Arbeitsmarkt und discussion papers

FS I 90 -12

Beyond Socialism: The Ambivalence of Women's Perspectives in the

Unified Germany *

Hedwig Rudolph, * *, Eileen Appelbaum, * Friederike Maier * *

April 1991

ISSN Nr. 1011-9523

* An earlier version is published under the title: "After German Unity: A Cloudier Outlook for Women", in: Challenge Nov./Dee.

1990, p. 33-40.

** Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin

*** Temple University, Philadelphia, USA

Forschungsschwerpunkt Arbeitsmarkt und

Beschäftigung (FS I) Research Area

Labour Market and

Employment

Forschungsschwerpunkt

Arbeitsmarkt uiid Beschäftigung (FS Research Area

Labour Market and Employment Reichpietschufer 50

1000 Berlin 3D

Jenseits des Sozialismusi: Die ambivalenten Perspektiven für Frauen im vereinigten Deutschland

Frauen waren in der alten DDR fast in gleichem Umfang erwerbstätig wie Männer. Die Struktur ihrer Beschäftigungs- bereiche und der Berufsausbildung verwies allerdings auf Prozesse der "Integration mittels Segregation". Diese wur- den gestützt durch gesetzliche, institutionelle und finan- zielle Regelungen zur Vereinbarkelt von Familienaufgaben und Beruf, die praktisch ausnahmslos auf Frauen bzw. Mütter gerichtet waren. Frauen haben bei der Umstrukturierung der Wirtschaft in den neuen Bundesländern vermutlich die schlechteren Karten hinsichtlich Beschäftigungschancen, zumal das infrastrukturelle Netzwerk abgebaut wird.

Abstract

Beyond Socialism: The Ambivalence of Women's Perspectives in the Unified Germany

Women represented almost half of the gainfully employed population in the former GOR. However, the pattern of their skills and jobs reflected processes of integration via segregation. The legal, institutional and financial support structures introduced to alleviate the double burden of (full-time) paid work and having a family turned out to be ambivalent because they were almost exclusively targeted towards women. Women will be most negati vely affected by the ongoing political and economic transformations as the labor market crisis promotes ruder gender relations and as the infrastructural networks are collapsing.

Contents

Page

1. Introduction 1

2. Positive Inheri tance: Fact.g a:nd Figures l..

3. Support Structures: Variety

and

IIiterdepenqetJ:ce 6

4. Social Costs 9

5. Perspectives: Does the inv!$ible hand of the ntqrket 14 need women's hands and heads?

References 23

Tables

Table 1: Percent of Employed Women by .Seleoted E!oonomic Sectors and Qualificatiöns, East Ge:rmany (1971 4nd 1985)

Table 2: Paid Employment by Economic Secto:r; East and West Germany (1988)

Table 3: Admission of Female Students t:o Un!versities and Colleges by Oegree SubjeGt in East G;ermany

(1971/1985)

Table 4: Monthly Income in -East 'afidl 1we:st: ·Germany ( 1988)

The process of poli tical, economic and social unification of the two Germanys is associated wi th many positive ex- pectations1 but fears about the economic future also 1oom

large in the former GDR. Women comprised fully half the labor force in East Germany 1 but their prospects are among the most uncertain. The future of women' s life and work and 1 more generally 1 of gender relations in a unified Ger- many is one of the most sensitive indicators of the quali- tative aspects of this process. However, i t has not been a major issue in either the political or scientific discus- sions concerning this process. This is all the more sur- prising because the GDR had a long tradition of affirmative action policies and because the transformation process con- tains the risk of a serious backlash. We begin this article with a brief overview and critical assessment of what has been gained by East German women 1 taking the si tuation of women in West Germany as our point of reference. We then dism1ss the likely economic developments in the GDR over the short and medium run 1 and indicate why we are es- pecially sceptical concerning the impact of these develop- ments on the economic and social position of women.

Finally, we conclude with some reflections on the condi- tions that contribute to making the outcome of German uni- fication as i t affects women a non-issue.

2. Positive Inheritance: Facts and Figures

Labor market statistics reveal several outstanding features concerning the working condi tions of women in the former GDR in comparison with the situation of women in many other countries.

- 2 -

- The female employment rate was extremely high, amounting to more than 80 percent of warnen between the ages of 1.5,

and 60.

The qualification level of women is impressive, leaving only a minori ty of women w·i tnout vocational ce.rtificate,s or college degrees.

- The spectrum of women' s employment has been broadened.;

that is, women had access to non-tr.adi tional seotors and levels of the occupational hierarchy to a much higher de- gree than in the FRG.

The nurober of steadily since female labor

women in paid emp1oyment has. increased

1949, the year the GDR was founded, whe'n the force partic.ipation rate was araund 40 percent. Since 1975, every second employed person has been a woman. In the FRG, wom~;m.e s prog,res'S· in. the labor market. was much slower. The labor force participation rate of women is currently little more than 50 percent and women consti tute bnly about 40 percent of all gainfully employed persons.

'rhe high investment in human capital in the former GOR was reflected in the qualification level of th.e female :tabor force as well. Fully 87 perceunt of employed women have some kind of skilled vocational certification or college degree. Two out of f i ve employee.s wi th a' college or uni ver ...

si ty degree are female. Among those who have successfully comple.ted programs in post-secondary schools below the c·ol- lege level, the ratio is two out of three because many of these schools specialized

in

the so-called fema.le semi-pro- fessions ( especially in the education and heal th sectors).

In cantrast, only 65 percent of working women in the FRG have completed skilled vocational training or higher educa-

tion -- 3 percent at the post-secondary level and 7 percent at the college or university level.

The progress in the qualification level of women in the former GDR is apparent in Table 1, which gives figures for women's qualifications in the major economic sectors in 1971 and 1985. Semi- or unskilled workers declined from 50.8 to 18.5 percent of female employment. Women with post secondary or coll ege degrees increased from 8 . 1 to 2 2 . 6 percent of female employmento Of particular interest is the prevalence of women wi th post-secondary schooling in the so-called nonproductive sectors (i.e., services other than wholesale and retail trade and communications), where their employment share increased from 23.5 to 50 o 2 percent over this period.

The distribution of women' s employment by economic sector ( Table 2) exhibi ts two centers of almost equal weight in the former GDR in 1988: industry and craft production which employed 33.7 percent of women and nonproductive activities ( services as described above) which together wi th produc- tion activities not elsewhere classified employed 3 5 . 2 percent. In the FRG, these two sectors together ac- counted for a similar percentage of women's jobs, but their individual shares are quite different: the manufacturing and craft production sector employs 2 3 percent of women versus 48.6 percent for financial, business, personal and social services o This reflects mainly the more advanced stage of development of the West German economy and the greater importance of the shift to services, but also the more rigid assignment of women to traditionally female areas of employment in the West.

The coexistence of traditional structures with new develop- ments in East Germany is reflected in the statistics both

- 4 ;;;;,

on apprenticeship-contracts äfid on areas of specializatioh of cdllege and university studertts. The public piannift~

sbhemes earmarked apprentid~ship-places fdr femaie ~ec~

ondary achool leavers maihlY irt s~dtors witH t~~ditlbria11Y

high participation rates of wort\en (Nicki:ü i99ö: i2) • wo:itit§ri are extremely overrepresent~d irt textile ~nd dlothirlg, leather, and in chemical crafts ( e .. g ~ ; labofatöry tebh;;.

nicians) as well as in sal~s ähcl in tither s~t~ices. bt th~

ten occupations wi th the hi"gfiest hufubers bf :l:la:ih~ie

trainees, comprising more thän. half of tii~ woitr~h äpp:N3fi-- tices, six are in almost e~cilusiv~lY teäaie ar~a~

iri

~hi~h

the percentage of womeh apprehtice§ .is 6v~r 95 pt:ifderit. dri the other hand, women have iricr~aäed

their

^sh~r~

lri

^t:~ch~

nical training: about one thifd öf rtön~6blie~ä böurtd Wo~eh

compieting secondary school

have beE!h

chann~ied irit6 ·skll- led technical jobs each y~af, es~ädialit ih eied~tdriics

(Radtke 1990:70). While wehnEin representsd

about

half of the college and universit~ stlideht pb~Ul~tlöh ih th~ foim~r

GDR, their representation was highest

lri

ecohbmics, educa~

tion, and li terature and languages; hbwe'\re:t; thiay obtairted the majority of admissions to medicine arid to mathematics and natural sciences as well ( see Table 3) • Women' s share of admissions in technical sciiences

t 27.

9 pefdent) seems relatively low. However, techniriäl s~i~hdes ~as the largest area of university studies ih Ea~~ ~e:t~any; As a result, it was the second largest field of ·sttidies for femall3 students: one out of five was ad.mitted tö engineering (ohly surpassed by education and teH:l.ch€:H:·is trainirtg₁ to wh.ich one out of three female students wer~ chariheleld).

Th~ ptogress achi~ved in the for~er ~DR conci~tning th~ a~~

cess of women to technical fields bedC:Hnes evert clE:la:tEir wheh c'ompared to the si tuation in the FI<G where the percentage of women among engineering students rarely surpasses 10 percent. It doesri't come as a sutprise that bh~

"classical" hard-core engineering disciplines, mechanics and electrotechnology, report the lowest shares of female participants in both Germanys, although at quite different levels. The modern fields within engineering and the tech- nical sciences offer more apportuni ties for women except for informatics (computer science), where women's shares of admissions are shrinking in both countries (Gruppe 1990:3f).

The developments in medical schools and economics in the former GDR deserve special mention:

The trend to feminization among physicans in the 1970s (who were salaried employees of the state and not in- dependent professionals) was counteracted by the enforce- ment of higher quotas for male candidates.

- In economics the reverse trend shows up, with this ac- ademic department collecting many of the women who did not get admitted to the fields for which they had opted.

It has been one of the· explicit political aims in the for- mer GDR to give support to women's professional advancement and promotion. At the end of the sixties the GDR started a

"training offensive" oriented specifically towards women.

Programmes to train women in technical and executi ve-ad- ministrative skills were developed, women - only classes in technical colleges, special courses at universities and polytechnics were introduced. Firms had been obliged to in- tegrate girls into training schemes for skilled blue-collar workers. But, the aim to integrate women into all occupa- tions and on all hierarchical levels was reached only partly: the labor market and employment structures tended to remain highly sex-segregated and a growing proportion of women ( especially those wi th small children) was employed

in jobs not appropriate to t:beir gualifications. Tbe Uße made of qualifications in ::tb.e production pr.oc·ess shows genqer-specific differences. ;But .as a result of 'the •p,romo- tion potlicies, about 30 pe,roent ot' .all ma-1\l!a<gers h,a;:(!l .bee;l'l.

female, though most .of these ;w,omen are .cono·~mtrate<!l a:t

tne

lower levels (Nickel 199.0:11'),. T.o ^·SJ.:;un up, t.he .f,orm~r iGQB.

seems to have been qui te s:ua.ce:s:s1fn;.f1. in llmpl'e,:qtentin<g lalbGr market policies that .i.mpro:v:;e~ t·be ~wor.king ;situa·ttLo:n ;(il!ljl'c;i

career apportuni ties of won:ten. ·The :.aigh Levels 0f :f·emale labor force participation .oould >l1:0·t hav,_e been :q~.cH!l·)ie~e.~

without the development .of .othe·r .s.oci:a1 str:uc.tU!r.:es. ·These developments in their .qualita.tiv:e as w.el.(l a.s .. ~:U~Fl:bi.t,a:t.ii·v:.e

aspects are examined next.

3. Support Structures: Variety :and ·-rnterdepel'lQ.ence

The increase in women' s paicl :wa,rJ~ in .t.he for.mer GDR .cannot be attributed to a narrow pange :o!f ll:abor ~matrrk::e,t po!Ltici:e.s ..

It was due, rather, to a muil.·tifaceted ;se:t .o•f .'interlinking measures comprising politica1, legal,, insti-tut.ianal, and financial aspects.

Basical·ly, the consti tution p:r.o:v;i.ded ·t'ha't ,me,n an.d .women h.ad not only the right t.o work, bu.t •.a;:Ls,o th.e .Qbligation.. In this context, the ideological :pr;essure on wo:rnen to look for employment was consider.abl,e. l~n :additi.on 'bhe low wage level of men acted as a S:trong incentive for (mar.ried) women to remain in gainful ,emp·l.GJy.men:t. ·More,ower, the logi:c of the planned economy relying -0n an e:x·tensiv:e use O!f .re ...

sources produced a pers.i.sten.t sc.ar.ci.ty .o:f labor.; this has moti vated the poli tical authori.ties ·to mobil:ize and .dev.e:lop t he .human cap1 tal of the ' ,coUintry',s ;f,e.maJ..e -po.pulat;i.on ,a,:nd .t::o ^I integrate women into the economy. ·The labor l,aw was s.pec,ii- .fically modelled to support these aims in two .ma.i.n

respects:

Affirmative action plans were made obligatory for all enterprises1 which were required to have clearly defined programs for the recruitment1 formal training1 and promo- tion of women.

- Worker protection regulations were specified for women, and above all for mothers₁ with a long (paid) maternity leave and ( paid) reductions in normal working hours for women with more than one child as the two outstanding re- gulations in this respect.

This legal framework was paralleled by infrastructure measures. Special institutional provisions were implemented at all educational levels in order to give women a second chance to obtain formal vocational or professional qualifi- cations. Fernale employees could receive paid leave at least part time to attend these classes provided specifically for women. Concerning the dilemma .of combining paid work with family responsibilities₁ there was an enormaus increase in the capaci ties of nursery schools 1 creches and kindergar- tens for children of all age-groups 1 . In the 1980s places were available for more than 80 percent of the children below school-age 1 even for those under the age of three (EAF 1990:3). In the FRG1 the situation is far different, the relation of places to the nurober of children in 1987 amounting to

4 percent below 3 years1

30 percent 3 to 4 years1

70 percent 4 to 5 years1 and 85 percent 5 to 6 years.

1 This was part of an integrated social policy program initiated in the early 1970s when the legalization of contraceptives and abortion, in the context of the double stress on women in jobs and in their private lives, had caused a dramatic decline in the birth rate.

- ß ...

These average figures, lUQreove:r, hide large ~egion9-l qif- ferences (Dt. Bundestag 1989:64),.

The nurseries, creches and ~+rcterg~rtens in the for~er GDR were run by public a~thoriti~~ qr

py

^the ~nterprise.s, ~itP

the parents paying only for m~~l$ and d~aperr:;;; they were.

open from 6 a.m to 6 p.m. I9 cop~f~St, West q~~man kip~~~­

gartens -- run by public autp0^rttie~, the chHrches or pri- vate groups (but rarely enterprt$e~), -- c~n q~ quite ~xp.e.n­

sive; although sometimes the fee~ are means teßt~d· b con- siderable nurober are open pnly h~++-4~Y· In th@ former GQR

' ' I ·, . ·. ' . ·. . • • •

hat meals served in the caf!'=lteria~ q;f ~nterpri:s~~:? and ir).

kindergartans and schools were ~ean~ to ~llevi~te the b4r- den of private hausehold work, as were p4bli9ly run la~nqry

centers and service-pouse.s ~tt:ac4eq to the f~F~s

(Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung 1987:52f).

As to public financial support for wom .

.en, t:he.

payll}ent of

"Kindergeld" 2 was quite importa~t ip yiew of the low aver- age income. However 1 in thca f()~~er GPR qi:re.ct financia:!.

transfers had less weight in the s.pectrum of social policy . measures than indirect for;m$ ßucl'l. a~ :p~iqe subsidies es-

pecia+ly for rent 1 food apd soot~;.ll ~~rvicca~;:~ (Stolz-Willig 1990:285). In addition, there ~ere s:pe.cific credits for young couples, with repay~e~t ~e4~c~d wpen ~ cl'l.ild was born, as well as extra payl]leptS, py tpß goverpment for children. However, these were generally not sufficient to make ends meet for a fam.ily +~ving qp qnly qne income. An additional, im:portant meqi um-term advant§.ge fo~ wo:men wa~

the regulation requiring th~t leaves of absenqe for family reasons be treated as equi valent to time spent working in 2 DM 50 pE)r month :for the first child1 DM 100 for the second, ~nd DM 150 for each additionai child; in the F~G

the respective amounts are DM 50, DM 130, DM 220 and

calculating eligibili ty and retirement income in pension schemes.

4. Social costs

The spectrum of measures, the most important of which are sketched above, was implemented under the slogan "uni ty coordination of economic and social policies" in the former GDR beginning in the early 1970s. How were the costs of this strategy to reconcile demographic and economic aims allocated? Obviously i t was the women who had to bear most of the burden. We show in this section that this turned out not irrespective of the fact that almost all legal and in- stitutional provisions in this context were targeted at womenjmothers but just because of this. Underlying this thesis is the understanding that "the private is the poli- tical", one of the basic arguments of the women's movement.

This means that the ruling relations in public life and po- litics mirrar the gender relations in the private sphere -- and the patriarchal character of the latter has not been challenged by official policies.

Sources from the former GDR confirm that despite their high invol vement in paid employment women continued to do at least 3/4 of the house work, which was especially cumber- some due to the scarcity of food and consumption articles.

Araund 25 percent of women were part-timers, quite an im- pressive figure taking into account the strong poli tical pressure against i t (Enders 1986:36).3

DM 240 for each additional child (with means tested re- ductions).

3 Women over the age of 35 are overrepresented among this group indicating that part-time work is not a way to re- concile family responsibilities and paid employment.

- 10 -

Women ¹ s secend shift at home was one of the main reasons why their participation ~ate in further training was below that of men and why their percentage representation in oc- cupations decreased drastically the bigher tbe level of the employment position (Friedrich·Ebert-stiftung 1987;171~5).

Their primary responsibility for children and house.holci ohores accounted also for women'a "traditionalism" in their choices of vocational training: the more comtenient working hours prevalent in most · "typically female¹¹ jobs have made them attractive for mothers and have even induoed a number of technically trained women to chang~ to "female'' jo:Ps ir ....

respecti ve of the much lowe:l7 wa,g~ leve1s !n these jobs (Zentralinstitut 1989:23).

An additional restriction on the develo:t;>ment of women' s careers was the distance from home to the workplace. Women with more than one child were espeoially likely opt to for jobs not too far away from home even if this meant employ- ment below their qua1ification level (Enders 19$6:36).

However, staying in their fie.ld of specialization was also no guarantee that women would get

a

demanding job. Women sometimes have been excluded trom the top jobs by decision- makers who feared that, for family reasons, they might not be as reliable and devoted as their male peers.

(Burkhardt/Zierke 1990:43). The remaining mismatch between the structure of women ¹ s skills and formal qualifications on the one hand, and their representation on the job-ladder on the other, was most obvious in the uni versi ty system:

women accounted for more than half of the student popula- tion, 35 percent of assistant professorsjlecturers, but only 9 percent of tenured prof€lssors (Gruppe Fr?tuenfor ...

Part-time work in the former GDR meant normally working hours of 3 2 hours a week; the regular working time was 43 3/4 hours a week (Stolz-Willig 1990:226).

schung 1990:7). These figures indicate a gender gap even though they are cross-sectional.

As to income, there is abundant evidence of a gender-speci- fic gap although sex-discrimination was officially denied.

In 1988, women working full time had a net monthly income that was 76 percent of their male colleagues' paycheck (Ott et al. 1990:7)⁴~ The difference reflected both the horizon- tal and vertical segregation of the labor market.

Income differences between men and women are due both to wage differences within the branches and to the ranks reached by men and women in the occupational hierarchy. In the former GDR wage differentials between male and female workers within a given industry are not due to different wage rates for equal work, this possibility was excluded by the wage regulations in operation. They are due to the more than proportional recruitments of women in the lowest wage groups and in the worst paying branches.

Wage differentials between the branches had been a resul t of poli tical decisions: the wages were high or increased fast in branches seen as important or "key branches" of the economy. Wage setting, agreed by the state and the state ruled trade-unions, followed the central plan. Branches with a high proportion of female workers, being regarded as

"light"-industries, had low and only slowly increasing wages, as well as female occupations.

Social attitudes (of firm-managers and others) had been de- veloped that regarded women as relatively unproductive,

4 The relative income posi tion of women in the FRG was even worse; they reached only 66 percent of the male wage.

- +2 -

wi th high rates of abse11tee:is:jll qnd labor turnever, ~i

tn

^C\

lack of interest in worthwil~ a:pd satisfying carE;lers ( fi;~ee

Merkel 1990:61). In the re,~lt, industries with a high ratio of female employeE;ls we:~;e cha+aoterized,

tw

lqw, wage levels ₁ and in addi tion womem 'I(.Te~e assig~ed to the lqt.rJer paid jobs in almest all indu&tr~es.

Even wi th equi valent fo:t;:mal <l\·Hü:if ic~tions; f~~q.le wor.~§lr~'

net income was on average 12 perce,nt. lE)SS tha.n that qf their male colleagues _• 1 due to more favorable _{: • ,. • • • • ' " • • • ••} arra.ng~ments _{J ! . • ' ~ . . ' . : - ,•}

with the foremen (Sozial~epor.t 1990: voJ;.. 1:122f.) and to firm-specific extra quaJ,.ifi~fltiorvi!?

easier access (Radtke 1990:7~).

to.

^men -.. ··" had an

Women's integration in the la.bor market of the formE)r GOR did not change the sexual di V"ision of ],(:q:>,pr a.nd so.ci~ty ~

Paid labor remained ori~:pted; to~ards; the ~ale full-time worker who stands with his antire la~o~

PPWer

~t thEl firm(s disposal. The social patterns a,ssi9ning high values to motherhood (nearly 90 percent of all women in the GOR have at least one child 1 see Winkle+ 1990a: 79) and fa~il.-y live made the gender-inequali ties i:p th~ socüety less visible and has made the "dual burcten'~ tqr women aoceptable. Women in the former GOR combined t-qll-ti~e wo,rk, child-rear.i,.n,g, inadequate shopping facilitie~ ~nd famil~ responsibilities.

They developed strategies to nand,l~ th~ "doijblE) b~rden" and they paid the price in terms of unequal occupational career possibilities. The social attitudes .i,.n the former GOR, con- cerning women¹s position in thEl labor market, are expressed by a just published study. The a.~thors report: "Whereas motherhood and family obligations did not prevent e:mploy- ment, they prevented eiUploymElnt ?I;C<Jp:Jr(:l:ing to qualifica- tions, in more demanding jobs and professional advancement"'

(Wi:pkler 1990a:80).

Apart from the repercussions on the professional careers of the mothers how did the public provisions for the care 1

education and recreation of children work out for the youngsters? As a matter of fact 1 there was considerable cri ticism concerning the quali ty of the services (Stolz- Willig 1990:287) and of the rather authoritarian style of teachers and school administrators. The family preserved i ts important function as the center of pri vacy al though almost all children were cared for in public institutions.

In both spheres the children were confronted wi th sex segregated di visions of labor: wi th women responsible for house work and child care - paid andjor unpaid. The youngsters of today might have a hard time finding a con- vincing female role-model i.e. an emancipated woman who is not overburdened by job and home responsibili ties for want of an equally emancipated male partner. Two indicators show how women were actively coping with this frustrating situa- tion: the divorce rate of 36.2 percent were extremely high 51 and about one third of all babies had an unmarried mother (Ochs 1990:300f.).

In the end 1 the men in the GDR could not entirely evade carrying part of the burden of these socio-economic poli- cies. As husbands or partners they had to give up at least some of their private comfort as almost all women entered the labor market (the majority with full-time jobs); this

"discounted" their position as main breadwinner. These are cri tical constellations because the way in which men and women support each other¹s aspirations as partners has pro-

5 § 10 ( 1) of the family law provides that both partners contribute to child care and house work. In the case of a man's refusal to live up to his obligations a woman can ask for a divorce (Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung 1987:46ff). We do not know to what extend this paragraph was relevant in divorce cases.

- 14 -

ven to be crucial for women' s ca:reers (Radtk.e 1990.:79). Men as colleagues were also confronted with the consequences of the social policies: whenever warnen received time-off for training or family reasons, the rest of the team haQ. to bridge the gap since no provision fo:r this contingency W~$

made. Quite a nurober of women with families t:ried to move out of male-dominated employment secto:rs so as to mini~i~e

the confrontation with the unfriendly reactions of ~en

(Enders 1986:34).

To sum up the discussion on social costs, tnere is con- siderable evidence that public policies intended to facili- tate the equal employment of women in fq.ct increased the burden of women. They contributed to a restoration and even legi timation of tradi tional gende~ relations by focusing exclusively on women and mothers (Merkel 1990:64).

5. Perspectives: Does the invisible hand of the ~arket nßed women's hands and heads?

The future of women's social and economic situation in the former GDR will be influenced mainly by the redesign of the legal and institutional structure and py tne developroent of the economy. concerning the firr:;t aspect the West German model is i~posed with minor differences and a certain time lag. As to the economic perspectives, even tne

11official¹¹ seenarios are often not far from higher level speculation. Optimistic estimates of unemployment by mid 1991 in what is now East Germany calculate that one million people will be without a job; that would mean an unemployment rate of about 10 percent in the medium term

(DIW 17/90:242).

The reali ty on the labor markets in the last six montns catched up quickly wi th these estlmates: in January 1991

the unemployment rate in the former GDR counted for 816 percent1 women counted for 56 percent of all registered unemployed. Within persans who find new jobs the share of women is quite small (only 17 percent of all persans get- ting a job by public employment services are women). Es- pecially single mothers1 women with a college or university degree and elderly women are more than proportionally re- presented among the unemployed. The radical restructuring of the economy that has to be accomplished in the Eastern part of Germany over the near and medium term future will affect the employment chances of women even more negatively and quite differently from those of the male workforce.

Two factors support the expectation that women's employment will be rather precarious in the near future at least:

- Women are overrepresented in those sectors of the East German economy that are expected to shrink or even to disappear when exposed to competi tion in a free market setting₁ and in skilled managerial and administrative oc- cupations related to the requirements of a planned economy.

- Moreover ₁ women are handicapped in entering the labor market to the extent that enterprises or public authori- ties close child care facilities in line with economic rationalization strategies or for lack of disposable funds.

One third of working women have been employed in industry and craft production ( see Table 2) . The branches wi th the highest percentages of female employees - light industry 1

textile and clothing ₁ electronics and electrotechnology - are almest identical with the prospective "losers" in com- petitive markets. Retail trade and other nonproductive sec-

- 16 -

tors 6 , with female employment over 70 percent, are heavily overstaffed, at least by West German standards (Ochs 1990:292); the same holds true for the administratiVe de- partments of firms where many women with college or univer- sity degrees are employed. Conversely, those brancbes that haVe a better competitive startding, such ~s machine töols, transportation and construction, a~e almost exclusively male domains (DIW 17/90:244).

There is abundant evidence that the largest potential for . economic growth in terms of additional jobs as well as production is contained in the servioe sector. Some servi- ces, especially banking, finartcs and insurance firms need radiaal restructuring, whereas others1 such as legal advi- ser and tax accotmtant have been p~actically nonexistant.

It is in these fields and not oniy in relation to the adoption of new technolögies that a huge demand for re- training and professional upgrading will axistr. ~ Apart from the neqessity to build up the relevant infrastructure and to develop curricula this need not pose major problems be- cause the labor force of the former GOR has a high level of vocational training as indicated aboVe and has had sub- stantial past experience with life-long retraining. The cri teria and processes adopted for t.he selection of the

"poolu of people to be retrained wiil be cruoial, for it is these people who will have acöess to qualified, secure and well-paid jobs. Although women are well represented in in- dustries such as banking and insurance in t.he FRG, i t is not at all self-evident that the selection process in the former GDR will be sex-blind.

The risk that women will be disoriminated against is quite high: on the one hand men wili compete vigorously in the context of the enormous unemployment that is growing; on 6 Comprising education, health and social services.

the other hand women, especially single mothers, may be re- garded as unreliable employees because the organization of child care will be more complicated, uncertain, and expen- sive.7

The radical change in labor law agreed upon in the state treaty between the two Germanys, in combination wi th the aboli tion of absolute job securi ty, is bound to have much more dramatic consequences for women than for men in view of the traditional gender roles in the former GDR. To give

just two examples:

- In the former GDR the mother (or grandmother, and -excep- tionally - the father) had the right to parental leave wi th 60-90 percent of net income for one year after the birth of a child while the job was guaranteed. In the FRG parents (mother or father) get a subsidy of 600 DM per month for 1 1/2 years ( after six months means tested) ; this sum is equivalent to the income of a half-day job in a "women' s industry" reduced by the expenses for child care. However, the person who opts for "Erziehungsgeld"

has to interrupt the employment contract or at least to reduce i t below half of the average weekly worlcing hours.

- The long periods of paid leave for parents with three or more children and for single parents in order to care for a sick child up to the age of 14 8 will be replaced by the

7 Already by January 1990 firms were reported to be re- ducing the capacity of their kindergartens some to zero

(Stolz-Willig 1990:288); the local communities, being now responsible for kindergartens, cannot afford to finance them.

8 1 child 4 weeks, 2 children 6 weeks, 3 children 8 weeks, 4 children 10 weeks, 5 children and more 13 weeks.

- 18 -

West German regulation of five days per year per child up to the age of 8.

The message is this: if ~ti~ 66sts f6r so6i~l reprodcidtion are allOtted t0 private firitlS in a market 9COJ10my ¹ WOmeh will have to pay the bill in the btirrency df their c~re~r chances. It is no surprise th~t ~Ömen

ate

^{fuore th~n}

propof:

tionally represented amon~ ~he a~~~~lo1~d. Accb~ding

td

^~he

concerted wishful thinking

b6th

oi:

poi

i t:icii:uis ~nd of

ex-

perts the dismiseals of wom~~ will 6ri11 ~~~tly sHbt

tib

i~

' ' . ' \ . ~ . . i

the unemployment statistics. Official seenarios already calculate that the labor mark~t ~äf.ticipat±8h

rate ±n

^the

. ' ^.

former GDR will ¹¹adjust'i to the mJch low~r Wes~ de:tmari level ( DIW 17/90: 242) • This äs~uniptiort iitiplies that about on~ million women after being fired kiil not loök for paid work bÜt will join the "hidden :d=.!sef~~" ^I d:U~app~aririg not oniy from employment but fr6m the labor k~r~~t statistlos as well.

Curiously enough ₁ there evol ving si tuation that half of the labor force

is only

some

protes~ against an

. i . .

works to the ciisadvantage of one and thät

probably

will persist and even be aggravated as unification ptoceecls. Gender issues

' . ~ ' : ~ , I : . . . .

are not prominent exept for the haridftll of discussions and papers by some women¹s r~sear~h ~roups. D~~pii~ the lack of public attention to this iss~~' the in~re~sin~ cinc~rtainty about the future has already begcin to take i ts toll on womenj Th~re ^{is some} evidenc~ ^that th~ nu~ber bf abortians has considerably increa~ed an~ thit of ~regnancles has diminished since the beginning

of

¹⁹⁹⁰ ' (Ott et al. 1990:3).

Why do women react so moderately ~heri ~he f~t~re of their professional careers and econontic ind.ep~rtdemc~ is at staR:e?

This is a knotty problem₁ two aspects

of

which will be meri- tioned:

- The fact that past .social policy in the GDR defined mothers almest exclusively as the target group contribu- ted to the public perception of reproducti ve issues and work and fami ly concerns as "women 's questions" . Men ob- viously had neither the pressure nor the incentive to de- velop more emancipated gender relations. The women, so- cialised in a tradi tional atmosphere, have learned the lesson that to combine paid work and home work is just a problern of coordination - their specific and individual problem.

- Moreover, many women presumably have ambivalent feelings in view of the turbulence in the labor market that is ex- pected. After years of extreme burden due to the "double shift", a pause in employment could seem quite attractive for them.

However, the dark side of the picture for women (and their families) will be the loss of their own income. While single mothers cannot voluntarily opt for this alternative, i t will be a poor life for women living with a partner as well. Table 4 shows that the gap in the standard of living between East and West Germany is considerably smaller for families than for single persons. A single person in the former GDR did not even reach half of the respective Western level whereas a couple with two children had almest two thirds of the disposable income of a similar hausehold in the West. It was the higher labor market participation

~ate of women in the former GDR that has reduced the dif- ferential in living standards between families in East and West Germany. As this difference in li ving standards has been identified as a critical factor inducing migration to- wards the West, deliberate policies to bring female labor force participation in East Germany in line with that in West Germany are likely to be counterproducti ve. Not just

- 20 ...

women and their families btit the political authorities ris well should be interest~d in positive female employm~ht op~

porttinities (DIW 19/90:265f.). Ih addition₁

the

expectation held by many East Germart wotneh that they will be EHigihle for retraining and will be able to reenter the labor mark~t

in skilled positions when their childrert are older is

likely to be disappointed.

1he rteUatiVe

e~periende of W~§t

German women is· instructive ih this regard.

The West German government artd the labor market admihisträ- tion have announced plans to offer firtancial incentives for training within the firms in order to t~dute Uriempldyment~

As the details of the regu1atiört§1 the irtstitutionai intra- structure and the programs had beert missirtg for several months₁ most of the tens of thousands of empioyees who re- ceived their letters of dismissal irt autumn fiave left the firms before this active labor market policy materializes.

The introduction of West German labor market policy instru- ments like further training and (local) job creation is a slow going process: whereas West Gerfuahy häs

a

long tradi- tion in the implementation of active labor market policies, has the institutions (like labor market administration1

training centers) and stable looal cömfuuni ties 1 all insti~

tutional structures of the former GDR have been dis- integrated and the rebuilding of '¹westernii institut1om3 takes time. In the meanwhile ehterprises and t.he state ¹

s

administration are closed down and the employees are made redundant. This situation leaded ih spring 1991 to an in- tensification of publicly finanded prograins.

But the way out of unemployment is much more cumbersome 1

uncertain and likely to be iortger for 'Women than for men.

Women can hardly expect to ben_e:fi t from the public funds committed to public investment and job creation programs in the East because they are earmarked for sectors where fe·""

male employment is rare: road construction, railways, transportation and the installation of communication equip- ment. There are neither ideas nor funds for the huge num- bers of women, many of them with high levels of education and qualifications, who will be dismissed by light in- dustries, the administrative sectors, and social services

in the near future.

In a society where paid labor was seen as a central value, where employment was the prime source of life chances and welfare for the member's of the society, unemployment and insecurity of life chances affect deeply the mental and social climate. The rapid increase of unemployment, the process of economic depression and disintegration combined with the feeling that West-German politicians and state re- presentatives are not willing to solve the economic problems create a changing political and social climate in the former GDR. Just published studies show that paid em- ployment is still an integral part in the planning of the course of life of East-German women, only a small minority is willing to withdraw from the labor market and stay at home. Nearly 35 percent of all employed women (interviewed in November 1990) expect to become unemployed or loose the job and 70 percent of all women expect i t to be difficult or impossible to get a new job (Infas 1991:25/26). It seems to be realistic that rising unemployinent both of male and female employees will create a climate of competi tion and rivalry among male and female unemployed and within dif- ferent groups of unemployed. Processes of dissegregation of labor markets, resulting in men 'doing formerly women's jobs, may develop. Women in the former GDR seem neither to be prepared to compete with men, nor to claim their rights in political or trade-unions action.

- 22 -

Allies in political campaigns for a more secure future for East German women can be sou9ht among West German women.

These women must become eng~ged in order t~ defend their own posi tions, which in any case are far from outs;tanding and require improvement if wo:rnen are to achieve economic equality. Women of the former GDR have taken a very cour.~­

geous part in the activities th~t cul:p:tinated in the poli"":"

tical turn in November 1989. In cqntrast to their promi~~nt

participation in those informal political groupsr women have little representation in the political part~~R ~~d es~

pecially in the powerful gov~rnmental inst~tutions. The re- minder that this develop:rnent seewß to haye peen ~ sort of iron law of all revolutions in history cannot give comfort.

References

Burkhardt, Manfred, and Irene Zierke. 1990. "Die Gestaltung der Lebenszeit und die Einführung neuer Technologien", Wirtschaftswissenschaft 38, no. 1.

Deutscher Bundestag. 1989. Drucksache 11/5948 Bonn.

Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung. ed., 1990.

"Quantitative Aspekte einer Reform von Wirtschaft und Finanzen in der DDR", Wochenbericht, no. 17.

Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung. ed., 1990.

"Erwerbstätigkeit und Einkommen von Frauen in der DDR", Wochenbericht, no. 19.

Enders, Ulrike. 1986. "Kinder, Küche, Kombinat Frauen in der DDR", Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, no. 6-7.

Evangelische Aktionsgemeinschaft für Familienfragen. ed., 1990. "Familienpolitik in der DDR und der Bundesrepu- blik Daten und Maßnahmen im Vergleich", Familienpoli- tische Informationen, no. 3 (cited as: EAF).

Friedrich-Ebert-stiftung. ed., 1987. Frauen in der DDR. Auf dem Weg zur Gleichberechtigung? Bonn: Neue Gesell- schaft.

Gruppe Frauenforschung am Zentralinstitut für Hochschulbil- dung. 1990. "Wozu Forschungen über Frauen im Hochschul- wesen?", Typescript. Berlin.

Infas (Institut für angewandte Sozialwissenschaft) . 1991.

Frauen in den neuen Bundesländern im Prozeß der deut- schen Einheit, Bad Godesberg.

Kühl, Jürgen. 1990. "Vollbeschäftigungschancen einer effi- zienten DDR-Wirtschaft. ¹¹ Paper presented at the SAMF- workshop, May.

Merkel, Ina. 1990. "Frauenpolitische Strategien in der DDR", in: Sabine Gensior, Friederike Maier, Gabriele Winter ( Hrsg.) , Soziale Lage und Arbeit von Frauen in der DDR, Arbeitspapier 1990-6 des Arbeitskreises So- zialwissenschaftliche Arbeitsmarktforschung, Paderborn.

Nickel, Hildegard Maria. 1988. "Effects of Technological Development on the Occupational Qualifications of Women: Greater Equality or Inequality Between the Sexes?" Paper presented in Salamanca, Span. August.

- 24 -

Nickel, Hildegard Maria.. 1989. "Sex-Role Socialization in Relationships as a Function of the Division of Labor"

in Marilyn Schattner Ruesche~eyer and Cbristiane Lemke (eds.), The ouali ty of ~ife in the. <qerman Demog;rq.tic Republic, Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.

Nickel, Hildegard Maria. 1990. "Geschlechtertrennung durch Arbeitsteilung", Feministi§che §tudi§n 8,

no.

1.

Ochs, Christ.iane. 1990. "Nicht alles, was die Partei der Frau zusammenbraute, ge:hört gleich in den Gully der Vereinigung", WSI Mi tteiluJ1g,en no. 5.

ott, Notburga; Heidrun Ra<ltke; Wera Thiel; and Gert Wagne.r.

1990. "Kindererziehung und Erwerbsar- beit Marktwirtschaftliche Möglichkeiten einer erzie- hungsfreundlichen Erwerbsarbeit in Deutschland".· DIW discussioh paper no. 7.

Radtke, Heidrun. 1990. "Wissenschaf.tlich-teahnischer Fort- schritt und Persönlichkeitsentwicklung der Frau". Wirt- schaftswissenschaft 38, no. 1. ·

stolz-Willig, Brigitte. 1990. "DM morgen, Wirtschaftsauf- schwung übermorgen, Frauenpal-i tik ... ?" WSI Mitteilungen no. 5.

Winkler, Gunnar. ed., 1990. "Sozialraport 1990". Vol. 1., Berlin, February.

Winkler, Gunnar. ed., 1990a. "Frauenreport '90". Berlin:

Verlag Die Wirtschaft.

zentralinsti tut für Bertlfsbildung der DDR. 1989. "Zur be- ruflichen Orientierung der Mädchen und Frauen unter den Bedingungen der umfassenden Intensivierung unter beson- derer Berücksichtigung der Facharbeiterberufe."

Typescript. Berlin, October.

Total Transport and Whole Sale Other Production Economy Industry Communications and Retail and Nonproductive

Trade Sectors (Services) 1971 1985 1971 1985 1971 1985 1971 1985 1971 1985 Qualification Level

CollegejUniversity Degree 2.4 5.8 0.4 2.8 0.3 1.8 0.3 1.5 7.8 12.9 Post Secondary Degree 5.7 16.8 2.1 7.2 1.6 5.5 1.3 4.9 15.7 37.3

Supervisory Grade - 1.0 0.6 1.4 0.1 1.1 - 0.7 0.2 0.3

Skilled Worker 41.1 57.9 38.7 65.7 37.9 70.5 58.8 78.6 27.3 32.0 Semi- or Unskilled 50.8 18.5 58.1 22.9 60.1 21.2 39.6 14.4 49.0 17.6 All Women 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Source: Hildegard M. Nickel (1988), "Effects of Technological Development on the Occupational Qualifications of Women: Greater Equality or Inequality Between the Sexes", Paper presented in Salamanca, Spain.

N c..n

<..0 N

Table 2: P.aid E:mploymentl) by E,conorrd.c Sector in l98B, East and West Ger:many

i l

Bast ,Ger:many

I

'ltrest Germany

Econo:mic Sector

Total

Industry2) and Craft3J Production

Construction Agricultu'l:"e and Forestcy

Transportation and Cmnmunications Wholesale and Retail Trade

Finance, Insurance and Real Estate,

Personal and Recreation Services, EducatioR, Health and Public Administration4)

1) Excludes apprentices

Total NUl"C'.ber Percent Occupationalj 1

I

(000) Female Female Distributionj

! (

000) .of Women

I

l - -- - - - - - - - - ---- __ [

i ---~---~

< I

I

^{8 594 4 204 48. 9 l•OO. 0}

I

I

^{3 483 1. 4l8 4:0.7 33.7}

^I

I ¹

l I

I

.::.oo ~rr 96 17.0 2.3

350 3., .,

! o I

928 8.3

63,6 224' 35.2 5.3

883 636 72.0 15.1

2 098 1 480 70.5 35.2

2) For West Germany, Manufacturing and Craft Production 3) Excludes Construction Crafts

Total (000)

27 366 9 371

1 872 l 155

1.556

3 330

10 082

Nuro.ber Percent Female Female

(000)

10 607 38.8 2 505 26.7

193 10.3

·517 44.8

367 23.6

1 873 56.2

5 152 51.1

Occupational Distribution of Women

100.0 23.6

1.8 4.9

3.4

17.6

48.6

4) For \!ffist Germany, also includes Business Services and Nonprofit Organizations; for East Germany, also i;ncl!..u.des PraGI.uction Activities Not El-sewb.ere Classified

So~ce: Statisti.c.al Yearhook of me -GDR 1989; Statistical Yearbook 19B9 fcr the FRG.

Table 3: Admission of Fernale students to Universities and Colleges by Degree Subject in East Germany, 1971 and 1985

Subject Overall

Mathematics, Natural Seiences

Technical Seiences Medicine

Agricultural Seiences Economics

Philosophy, History Constitution, Law

Cultural and Art Studies, Physical Education

Literature, Languages Theology

Art

Education and Teachers's Training

Percent Fernale

1971 1985

40.4 50.8

46.3 50.4

18.6 27.9

76.5 55.3

39.8 47.4

44.9 68.3

35.7 34.0

36.9 37.0

69.5 55.8

51.2 46.3

41.4 43.5

64.2 73.0

source: Hildegard M. Nickel, "Effects of Technological Development on the Occupational Qualifications of Women: Greater

Equality or Inequality Between the Sexes". Paper presented in Salamanca, Spain, August 1988.

,,

tifBks pay per employed person*

~~~ pay per e~ployed person

Rotisahold net income per person in the household**

Total

~afried couple with 2 children

3 childreri Single person

N~t labor income

pef

household***

- 28 -

( 1)

Eiil3t

G~rmany

(Mark)

1

o38 854

546 459 1 024

1 695

west:

(2)

Germany

(DM)

3 087

2

⁰⁸⁵

i 42ö

a54

751

2 120

~ 926

( 3)

R.af:.ib

(1) ~;. (2)

(%}

34 41

64 61 48 58

*

** ***

Based on hausehold survey~

Av$rage

values in both COUntries are highär thah bf~iciiAi sE~tistids~

Households of wage arid

säiäty

^wotk~fs 6niy.

Includes bonuses and bthlf ~is6~1lärie6cis laboi iricofue.

~cli.irce: Deutsches Institut für wi:tt:~enäfts:Eör~cillifi~ (DiW)

ed.,

1990, "Erwerbstätigkeit und EihR:O:mmeri von Frauen in der

DDR", wochembericht, no. 19, Taf:lle 1,

p.

2154.

Hedwig RudolJ?h, Eileen Appelbaum, Friederike Ma1er ·

Beyond Socialism: The Ambivalence of Women's Perspectives in the Unified Germany

Discussion Paper FS I 90 - 12 Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung 1990

MITGLIEDER DES PUBLIKATIONSKOMITEES PUBLICATION COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Christoph Albrecht Michael Funke Gernot Grabher Bernd Reissert

(Vorsitz)

Hedwig RudolJ?h Günther Schm1d David Soskice

PUNKTS ARBEITSMARKT UND BESCHÄFTIGUNG

(nur im Buchhandel erhältlich)

W erner Beuschel

Softwareentwicklung und Sachbearbei- terqualifikation. Ein Gestaltungsansatz 1987, edition sigma, 421 Seiten

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Mikroelektronik, Qualifikation und Pro- duktinnovation. Ergebnisse von Fallstu- dien

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