Women Rising in Corporate Ranks

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Whereas the dominance of the sole-male-earner model was reflected in women’s gross incomes in Germany in 1980, this has changed markedly in the last 25 years. “For childless women at least it has become normal to go out to work,” confirms Nicola Hülskamp, researcher in educational and labour-market policy at the Cologne-based Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft ( Institute of German Private Enterprise, IW). “In the early eighties, women rarely had their own income, whether they had children or not,” she says. This has changed. And yet, things still look quite different for mothers in Germany. The message of the IW’s figures is clear. In contrast to Scandinavian countries, for example, a large proportion of working mothers in Germany are still to be found in low-income groups today. Many of them work part-time, and that alone considerably reduces their average salary.