Family Matters

"(...) Germany gets high marks from global academics for its quality of life, social services, and rich sources of research funding. But while parental leave is generous compared to other countries (up to three years per child), many researchers say it’s hard to take more than a few months off when their families grow.

'Your job is insecure and you are under a lot of time pressure to publish journal articles and apply for grants [while] taking care of, teaching, and supervising students,' says Keonhi Son, a postdoctoral researcher at the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES).

Parenting can make things trickier. Son, who researches global gender policies, women’s labor, and economic rights, notes that German law entitles early childhood education from the age of one. Yet finding childcare is challenging, she says. (...)"