“The concepts behind the childcare allowance clearly contradict our ideas about how state funds should be used to support children and women in our society. I welcome the growing criticism of the coalition government’s plan to actually implement this concept, which was pushed by the CSU,” said Ines Scheibe from the executive committee of the Humanist Association of Germany on Wednesday in Berlin.
The background to the ongoing debate is a new forecast according to which the costs of the childcare allowance will amount to up to 2 billion euros per year. This would be significantly more than previously estimated. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also advised the German government against the introduction, as it would lead to a cementing of the wage gap between women and men and restrict children’s opportunities to make use of high-quality childcare facilities with child-appropriate support. Scheibe recalled that the federal association had previously spoken out clearly against the childcare allowance. “Family and role models that are to be rewarded in this way despite the obvious disadvantages for women and children are a relic of Christian-conservative thinking. I would be delighted if this relapse could still be recognized and prevented in the governing parties.” All measures that provide additional incentives to keep women out of the workforce for longer periods of time are not to be supported from a humanist perspective. The establishment of incentive systems that simply ignore the concepts for the socialization and early education of children, which have been elaborately developed and proven over decades, should not be supported by the state. “The regression into a social pre-modern age promoted by this childcare allowance cannot be reconciled with an enlightened and emancipated family and women’s advancement policy. It is purely a clientele measure,” says Scheibe. Parents should of course have the right to decide for themselves how their children are cared for. However, creating incentives for the traditional practice of individual home care in some regions is “unreasonable and absurd in terms of gender equality policy”. The task of society as a whole is to provide all children with equally good care and support services. “The funds planned for the childcare allowance should definitely be used more sensibly and sustainably.”
