Hi! My name is Rachel Cohen and I'm a US-based journalist where I work for Vox (www.vox.com). I am doing research right now for an article about Germany's family policies and how they compare/contrast to the US. (spoiler: they're very different!) I'm exploring what the US can learn/replicate from Germany's system, and also what some of the challenges are in Germany that US policymakers should be mindful of.
One area I'm trying to learn about more right now is mums who chose not to go back to work full time after having kids, or back to work at all, in part because they didn't feel they needed to given the more generous child benefits and parental leave policies and child care system.
I'm interested to learn more about how moms balanced this decision with the general risk to their financial security/retirement. This is something that is on the minds of many American women given our meager social safety net. Part-time jobs, I should add, are also usually not even an option for women in the US, whereas I know they're more prevalent in Germany.
I'd be really interested to talk to connect with women about how they made this decision. (You could either be raising your kids now, or if your kids are grown now I'd love to talk with you, too.)
Do you feel nervous at all about not working more, or do you feel confident that the government policies in place and/or your partner/family's financial positions will balance out whatever risk there might be? Have any of you later regretted not going back full time, or for more hours? Did anyone anticipate going back to work more when your children were grown and find that was more difficult to do than expected? (This is something that's common in the US, and I'm curious if Germany makes it easier to do.) Did anyone want to go back for more time but felt pressure to not from peers/family? Do you feel like the dynamics around part-time work/mini-jobs are changing as cost of living goes up?
Feel free to respond in the comments, though if you'd be open for a real interview please let me know! I'd love to connect. can shoot me an email at [rachel.cohen@voxmedia.com](mailto:rachel.cohen@voxmedia.com) to find a time, or I'm on Whatsapp at +16106390152
Thanks very much for your consideration and help!
by rmc031