Today Equal Pay Day is: Purely arithmetically, women in the nationwide average lack the amount in their annual income, which men earn from January 1st to March 7th. And that has consequences.
“I like to be there for the children, it is fun,” says Stefanie Stoll. Since she gave up her job, everything has been about her two little daughters Frida and Lilly to wash, shop and cook. But it is also clear: “After a few years you can tell, you need something different again.”
But it will have to go on like this. “My husband just earns a lot more money. Then there was nothing else.” Rent, insurance, purchases: Even these running costs could not have paid for Stefanie Stoll's income.
Part-time and poorly paid “women's professions”
Many families are similar to the Stolls. On average, women earn 16 percent less than men. One of the reasons is that they often work in poorly paid or part -time. Compared to the previous year, this so -called gender Pay GAP decreased by two percentage points. If you compare men and women in similar jobs, the difference in income is six percent.
However, the goal must be to close the wage gap completely, says Heike Fiestas Cueto from the State Women's Council of Baden-Württemberg, for example. To do this, the structural causes would have to be eliminated. “Women -dominated professions must not be underpaid. And women have to be enabled full -time profession,” she demands.
Family and work still too difficult to reconcile
Stefanie Stoll did not really deserve, she was department head in the city administration of Baden-Baden. However, she could not keep up with her husband Tim, he is a manager in the VW group. Stefanie Stoll originally had a full-time job.
After the birth of her first daughter, she changed part -time. But that was also difficult because even the extended opening time of the daycare center ended at 2.30 p.m. “It would not have been possible without the grandparents,” says Stoll. In the meantime she has given up the job completely.
More family time for men?
The main argument was the finances. For him that meant that he cannot go on parental leave, says Tim Stoll. He would actually like to spend more time with his daughters. But time together is scarce.
“In the morning I usually have to get rid of so early that I don't see her at all, or there is only a kiss on the forehead quickly,” reports Tim Stoll. In the evening there is dinner together and giving it. “I'm sure somehow talk to myself, the weekends and vacations are enough. But if you calculate it, that's 18 summer vacations – depending on how puberty is going.”
Not the last to leave the office
Laura Fröhlich offers advice for families in similar situations as a “mental load coach”. She recommends talking about the distribution of the tasks of the coming week as a family. For example, 15 minutes every Sunday. “That sounds banal at first,” she says. “But often we don't get the banal and simple things because we often work in front of us in everyday life.”
Tim Stoll has founded an online fathal platform on which fathers exchange ideas about the tornness between career and family. He has decided not to always put the work in the first place in the future. “Maybe not always to be the boss who is the last to leave the office,” he explains. “But the one who also says: It is 3:30 p.m. or 4 p.m. – the family needs me.”
Tim Stoll hopes that he will soon be able to switch to a four-day week. Temporary as long as the children are still small. In his superiors, he had the confidence that this would not mean a career.
