Mothers in East Germany work nearly 350 hours more per year than mothers in West Germany, equivalent to almost two months of full-time employment, and this divide has persisted for three decades after reunification. Fathers show no similar regional difference, suggesting that cultural norms surrounding motherhood, rather than labour market conditions alone, drive the gap.
Research shows that the stigma attached to working mothers in West Germany — the so-called Rabenmutter (“raven mother”) norm — explains around 73% of the disparity by discouraging maternal employment even when work would be financially beneficial. By contrast, stigma against non-marital parenting plays only a limited role. East Germany’s socialist legacy fostered a durable norm of full-time maternal employment that continues today. Closing the East-West gap may require looking beyond taxes, wages, and subsidies. Policies should therefore move beyond economic incentives and address deeply rooted social attitudes towards working mothers.
