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Tomorrow the German government decides whether daycare reopens on Monday. It won’t. The German Academy of Sciences @Leopoldina published a statement yesterday that suggested that daycare for younger kids (under five) only re-opens after the summer break (i.e., in September).
I realize that there are extremely difficult tradeoffs to be taken into account. I also dislike complaints about statements based solely on the lack of diversity among the authors. But in this case I worry.
Among the 25 authors of the @Leopoldina statement are 2 women (youngest:62) and 23 men (youngest:50). @FuestClemens is the second youngest.
There are more authors >70 than <50. My best guess is that none of them has been a full-time carer for a small child for 20 years, if ever.
There are more authors >70 than <50. My best guess is that none of them has been a full-time carer for a small child for 20 years, if ever.
I HOPE they realize what keeping daycare closed for half a year means for working parents of small kids. Policies have for years attempted to increase labor market participation and work time of mothers with small kids. 6 months without daycare will be a huge step backwards.
An example: When our son was 13 months, husband and I were both back working full time (with flexible hours). Our son went to daycare from 8am to 3:30pm. Picking him up at 3:30pm required a lot of organization (and work time in the evenings, both of our jobs are often >40h/week)
The last four weeks we managed somehow. The semester in Germany only starts next week, so I was flexible. I worked perhaps 30h/week and he 40h/week, we took shifts with our son (who turned 20 months today). Most of my work time was during his lunch nap or in the evenings.
I tried to schedule calls while I was outside with him. But I worry about what to do when the semester starts. It is IMPOSSIBLE to work on a laptop (or teach!) with a toddler in the room. He can keep himself entertained for a maximum of three minutes in a different room.
We can manage (by working at night) for a few weeks. But this means too little sleep, and zero own time. I can’t do that for six months.
One of us has to take leave (without pay) if this goes on for 6 months.
One of us has to take leave (without pay) if this goes on for 6 months.
Perhaps we can both work part time (nobody in my husband’s position ever has). And we are the lucky ones, with two relatively flexible jobs and good salaries.
In many cases, the women will be asked to reduce hours. We already noticed that nobody complains when I do calls outside (without video, and sometimes with a crying toddler in the background). My husband gets many complaints from colleagues if he cannot access files during calls.
I understand that the situation might be so bad that daycare for younger kids cannot reopen. It might be so bad that interim solutions (e.g. form small groups with 5-6 kids, who each go to daycare half a day) are not possible, either.
I just hope that the recommendation has been made realizing what closing daycare means. It means that all the people who have fought hard to combine rearing a child well and a career lose. And many won’t be in our comfortable situation, where one of our salaries is enough.
