More children’s sick days
Fathers are more likely to look after children at home
By Christina Lohner
02/21/2022, 3:50 p.m
If children are ill or at home because day care centers and schools are closed, it is primarily the mothers who stay with them instead of going to work. In the pandemic, children’s sick days are increasing again significantly. But at least fathers now take on a larger part of it than before.
Mothers in particular still stay at home when their children are sick or day care centers and schools are closed again because of Corona. But something may be happening, as evaluations by Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) and Barmer for ntv.de show. For both health insurance companies, the fathers’ share of applications for children’s sick days increased last year, by around three percentage points each compared to the pre-Corona year 2019. At almost 32 percent, the proportion of men at TK increased to almost a third to, at Barmer to 28 percent.
However, this means that it is still primarily the mothers who are holding back professionally. In the first pandemic year 2020, the proportion of fathers even fell slightly, by around one percentage point for both funds. With the increase in the proportion of fathers, it must also be taken into account that the total number of applications has risen massively. While TK 2020 still recorded around 353,000 applications, last year it was more than twice as many at a good 800,000 – a third of them due to corona. The applications at Barmer also increased by more than 100 percent.
So the burden on women did not decrease, but actually increased. “The slight increase in men is nice, but not nearly enough,” says the deputy chairwoman of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), Elke Hannack, when asked by ntv.de. “Most of the care work is still done by women – the disparity in taking child sick pay is just the tip of the iceberg.”
The burden on families increases sharply again
The number of possible children’s sick days was again significantly increased last year to 30 days per year and parent or 60 days for single parents. Up to 65 days are possible for several children, for single parents a maximum of 130. Parents can also use this until March 19 of this year if their child is not ill but needs care because the daycare center or school is closed due to the pandemic. This is probably the main reason for the sharp increase in children’s sick days.
This January, the burden on families rose sharply again, as a survey by the Hans Böckler Foundation, which is close to the trade union, shows. 19 percent of the women with children in need of care stated that they had worked less because of their care. Only in April 2020, during the first hard lockdown, was the value higher at 24 percent. According to the survey, when the Omicron wave hit Germany in full this January, only 6 percent of fathers worked less because of childcare.
“The pandemic has made these imbalances clear in many families and made the general public aware,” notes DGB Vice President Hannack. With tailor-made offers and family-oriented working time arrangements for fathers, employers could make a significant contribution to closing the gap between the sexes in care work. “Employers themselves must show the flexibility they expect from their employees in order to enable all employees to combine work and family life.”
Catch-up effects in viral infections
The fact that mothers call in sick more often because of the children is probably due to social factors as well as salaries. Since they earn less on average, the wage cuts on children’s sick days are often lower than for fathers. However, the latter are increasingly working from home. This gain in time for the family could reinforce the development that men are more involved in childcare – for example in the form of children’s sick days.
Incidentally, behind the applications to the health insurance companies there are significantly more approved children’s sick days, since several days can be applied for at the same time with one application. For example, a total of 1.29 million days were approved at Barmer with 490,000 applications last year. After the AOKs, TK and Barmer are the largest statutory health insurance companies in Germany with almost eleven and nine million respectively.
The reason for the sharp increase in children’s sick days, in addition to the increase in the upper limit to 30 days, is apparently also catch-up effects for diseases other than Covid-19. Pediatric practices observed an unusual increase in viral infections last summer, as TK explains. Previously, children were obviously also better protected from other diseases than usual by the Corona rules. In the summer and autumn, the number of applications for children’s sick days then grew exceptionally fast.