While some Americans questioned whether Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin could hold high office and simultaneously look after five children, an article in the New York Times, "Wage Gaps for Women Frustrating Germany' examined the difficulties faced by German women who want both a family and a high-flying career. The article blamed sexist attitudes and a general tendency for women to be passed over for promotion once they have children , and often choose flexible, part time hours, partly as a result of inadequate public child care facilities.
The article could have made its case more strongly by pointing out that the most powerful woman in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel, has no children. On the other hand, the article also fails to mention that Ursula von der Leyen, the well-known minister for family affairs, has managed to succeed in politics despite having seven children , two more than Mrs. Palin.
The article reports that German women complain both at lack of promotion and at gender inequality in wages, although it does not go into the issue of whether German women are paid less than men for exactly the same work.
Although Germany offers some of most generous maternity (and paternity) leave in Europe, the lack of child care seems to be a major reason why German career women are reluctant to have children. Minister von der Leyen has introduced plans to finance private child care and make more places available in kindergartens.
That, however, is unlikely to be enough to alter a deep-seated German cultural belief that women ought to stay home and have children, rather than seek professional success , a phenomenon to which the article might have paid greater attention, particularly as it reflects a view also expressed by some American critics of Mrs. Palin.
