Undoing Gender with Institutions. Lessons from the German Division and Reunification

Quentin Lippmann, Alexandre Georgieff and Claudia Senik ()

No 1031, SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research from DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)

Abstract: Using the 41-year division of Germany as a natural experiment, we show that the GDR’s gender-equal institutions created a culture that has undone the male breadwinner norm and its consequences. Since reunification, East Germany still differs from West Germany not only by a higher female contribution to household income, but also because East German women can earn more than their husbands without having to increase their number of housework hours, put their marriage at risk or withdraw from the labor market. By contrast, the norm of higher male income, and its consequences, are still prevalent in West Germany.

Keywords: Gender norms; Culture; Institutions; German division; Family; Housework; Divorce; Labor market (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 I31 J16 P51 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 62 p.
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1031

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