The Economist just listed New Zealand as the best place in the world for working women. We somehow managed this while having very free labour markets and minimal obligations placed on employers around maternity leave. Maybe New Zealand's been on the right track by subsidising daycare rather than making it really expensive to hire women of childbearing age.
That's from Eric Crampton. You'll find Germany way down on the list. I have not seen comparative statistics, but it's certainly very risky in this country to hire women of childbearing age. Daycare is subsidized, but after 5 p.m., things start to get tricky. I'm all for incentivizing professional couples in particular to have children, as this would increase the quality of the future population. A sort of unromantic concept, I know, but when thinking about society, you need a splinter of ice in your heart. That is, sociology currently attracts exactly the wrong kinds of people.
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