Given that Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, is regularly listed not only in Forbes magazine’s list of the world’s most powerful women, but also in its list of most powerful people, German females need little convincing that they can play influential roles.
They seem now to be asking questions, not about what they can do, but rather about what they want to do. Having proven that they can rise to the highest levels, they can now ask if it should be assumed that they must always want to do so.
Rather than fighting for economic or political power, German women seem to be working for the right not to be forced into business or politics. Why should anyone assume that women with university educations automatically want to devote the bulk of their lives to careers?
An interesting consequence of this trend is that men, too, are beginning to ask why professional activities are expected to be the core of man’s identity, instead of, e.g., his roles as husband or father. Germans, who still lead most of the world in efficiency and productivity, are asking if they can prioritize family life above the work world. In July 2014, Rose Jacobs wrote in Newsweek magazine:
Where American women can only dream of a system that encourages men to share more of the burdens of family life, Germany has replaced maternity leave with “parent time,” offering up to 14 months’ paid leave to couples who both take time off after their child’s birth.
Placing family ahead of career doesn’t mean surrendering the option of being active in business or politics. German men and women both want that alternative left open to them. But they don’t want to sacrifice the chance to be fully engaged parents and spouses - two roles regarded by many people as life’s most meaningful experiences.
The numbers show that women don’t have to surrender political influence to be active mothers and wives: while Germany has more full-time stay-at-home mothers than the US or the UK,
The US and the UK both have a lower proportion of women in their legislatures.
So German women win on both fronts: they can fully rival the men in the political world, and yet not be forced into the monotony and drudgery of full-time, lifelong employment in the business or political worlds.
