In Germany, as in other modern societies, there has been tremendous progress with regard to the equal rights for women stipulated in the Basic Law. As such, with regard to education girls have not only drawn level with, but have indeed now overtaken boys. At grammar schools they account for 56 percent of graduates; the share of young women embarking on higher education totals almost 50 percent, and 42 percent of doctorates are awarded to women.

And more and more women are embarking on careers. And the alimony laws in the case of divorce in force since 2008 make it all the more important for women to be employed, and indeed almost 70 percent of women are. Yet whereas men are primarily in full-time employment women, especially those with pre-school children, work part time.

With regard to wages and salaries there continue to be considerable differences between the sexes: Female workers in full-time employment, for example, earn just 77 percent of their male counterparts’ pay, and the group of top earners a mere 73 percent. Even though nowadays they are frequently getting to occupy top jobs on the career ladder, in doing so they still encounter considerable hurdles. As an example, almost 50 percent of students are women but only a good third research assistants, and just 17 percent professors with tenure.

One of the main obstacles to climbing the career ladder is the fact that on a European comparison the network of care facilities for small children still needs to be improved. With regard to the division of domestic labor as well, comparatively little has changed. Although 80 percent of fathers say they would like to spend more time with their children, even women in employment invest twice as much time looking after children. To date it was almost exclusively women who made use of the new regulations governing parental leave. Though, following the introduction of parental support (see page 147) the proportion fathers putting their career on hold to look after their child has risen to over 16 percent, most men (70 percent) only stay at home for two months.

Women are far more strongly established in politics than in the top echelons of business. In the SPD and CDU, the two main parties, almost every third and fourth member respectively is female. The rise in the proportion of women in the Bundestag is nothing if not remarkable: Whereas in 1980 they made up just eight percent of all members of parliament, this figure has now risen to almost 32 percent. Angela Merkel has been the first female German Chancellor since 2005.