評論
打印
Employment in Germany
德國就業
Nature v nurture
先天V后天
Why east and west German women still work vastly different hours?
婦女的工作時長在東德和西德差距為何如此之大？
Scholars are often greatly excited by "natural experiments", events that end up separating two groups of people, allowing wonks to compare their subsequent behaviour. Much like the study of twins adopted into different households, the postwar division and eventual reunification of Germany could be seen as such an experiment. A report by the German Institute for Economic Research on working mothers, published ahead of the 30th anniversary of reunification on October 3rd, reveals the interplay between policy and attitudes that influences the decision to work.
學者們通常醉心于“自然實驗”，這種實驗最后會把實驗人員分開，讓書呆子們能夠對比他們接下來的行為。就像對“被不同家庭收養的雙胞胎”的研究一樣，戰后德國的分裂和最終的統一也可以被視為這樣一種實驗。在10月3日德國統一30周年紀念日到來之前，德國經濟研究所發布了一則有關“職業媽媽”的報道，該報道揭示了影響工作決定的政策和態度之間的相互作用。
When the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the east united with the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in 1990, the mothers of young children led very different lives. Life expectancy and incomes were much lower in the east, but communism did at least seem to lead to greater gender equality in labour-market outcomes. Encouraged by state policies and party ideology, mothers were almost as likely to work as fathers, and most worked full-time. In the west, where state and church encouraged mums to stay at home, less than half were in paid employment, and most of those worked part-time.
在1990年東部的德意志民主共和國和德意志聯邦共和國合并之時，年幼子女的媽媽們過著截然不同的生活，東德的預期壽命和收入較低，不過對于勞動力市場結果來說，共產主義至少維護了在性別平等方面作出了貢獻。在國家政策和政黨意識形態的鼓勵下，媽媽們幾乎和爸爸們一樣愿意工作，而且大多是全職工作。在西德，政府和教會鼓勵媽媽們呆在家里，只有不到一半的媽媽們有帶薪工作，而且大多是兼職。
Three decades on, how has the picture changed? Two things stand out. First, behaviour has changed drastically since unification: the share of eastern women with young children working full-time fell from over half in 1990 to just under a third in 2018. More women across Germany are working part-time. Second, east-west differences still exist. The share of eastern mums in full-time work is more than double that in the west. As a result, whereas women in the east earn 7% less than men, the gap in the west is 22%. The report argues that policy and attitudes together explain these trends.
30年過去了，情況發生了怎樣的變化？有兩點很突出。首先，自兩德統一以來，人們的行為發生了巨大的變化：有年幼子女的東德女性全職工作的比例1990年時為一半以上，而2018年則下降到不足三分之一。德國有越來越多的女性從事兼職工作。第二，東西方差距依然存在。東德全職媽媽的比例是西德的兩倍多。結果就是，東德女性的收入比男性少7%，而西德男女收入的差距是22%。該報道認為，造成這些趨勢的原因是政策和態度。
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