Meet Germany’s radical childcare activists
The Covid-19 pandemic has intensified Europe’s childcare crisis. In Germany, one group has some creative solutions
By Elena Gagovska
Activist Katharina Mahrt and her 3-year-old son
Photo / Youme Won
Who takes care of children? How much are they paid? Do parents receive proper support, or are they struggling? Can women raise children without damaging their career prospects?
Although 67% of working-age women in EU countries are employed in some capacity, the issue of child care continues to hold many back. The Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in the closure of most schools and nurseries, has intensified the situation. In Germany one grassroots initiative, KitaKrise, is now calling for radical action to address the situation.
KitaKrise translates as “kindergarten crisis”, and the group advocates for more and better quality Kitas (child care centres) and better pay and conditions for workers. “The pandemic is simply one crisis meeting [an existing] crisis,” says activist Katharina Mahrt. “We already had these problems, but now they are more noticeable.”
European countries have been trying different childcare solutions since the start of the pandemic. Denmark reopened its day care centres before most other workplaces. North Macedonia (a non-EU country), has kept kindergartens closed and has relieved one parent in each family with children under the age of 10 from work duties. However, there are no statistics available on how many women have stopped work compared to men. In the UK, where child care is largely privatised, more than 10,000 providers may go out of business following the lockdown.
“The pandemic is simply one crisis meeting [an existing] crisis. We already had these problems, but now they are more noticeable.”
In Germany, every child has had the right to a place in a child care facility, or “Kita", since 2013. However, there is a serious lack of places. KitaKrise is currently campaigning for all parents to receive a monthly payment of €1000 for the duration of the pandemic – a type of childcare universal basic income known as “Corona Kindergeld”.
Mahrt is a 32-year-old junior public relations manager and lives in Neukölln, Berlin, with her partner and three-year-old child. She was previously an activist with Ciocia Basia, an organisation helping women from Poland (where abortion is illegal in almost all cases) access pregnancy terminations in Berlin. But it was only after becoming a mother herself that she became more active regarding Germany’s childcare crisis.
“I wanted to share childcare with my partner equally,” she explains. “Not only were we in unequal positions – he had a higher income while I was a university student – but we also couldn’t find a Kita spot for our son.” After exhausting all options, Mahrt decided to file a lawsuit against the government on the basis of the 2013 law. “I then found out that some mothers were organising a large protest on this issue and I got involved,” she adds. “Three and a half thousand people attended.”
“We are advocating for a good system for children, for parents and for workers.”
Mahrt did her master’s thesis about the Kita crisis before joining KitaKrise, which was started by Elise Hanrahan, an American immigrant in Berlin, in February 2018. As someone who was born and raised in Berlin, she felt that it was her duty to challenge the situation.
“Our slogan is ‘Good kitas for all’,” Mahrt says. “We are advocating for a good Kita system for children, for parents and for workers. We are demanding better payment and working conditions. The biggest problem is the lack of workers, as these jobs are poorly paid and mostly held by women.”
Mahrt explains that this is due to society’s refusal to view care work as “real work”, even when carried out professionally. Berlin's housing crisis has also played a role, as Kitas are particularly absent in inner parts of the city where rents are high and many businesses compete for real estate.
“The biggest problem is the lack of workers, as these jobs are poorly paid and mostly held by women.”
To give some numbers, there are almost 300,000 Kita spots missing across Germany for children under 3, and 80,000 missing for those aged 3 to 7. “Not only could Germany afford Kitas for all because it is a rich country, but it is also so obvious that the Kitas would pay for themselves because they will allow mothers to go back to work and pay more taxes,” says Mahrt. “Sadly, there isn’t enough government investment.”
Kitas have recently re-opened in Germany, but Mahrt believes it may be too early and that the “Corona Kindergeld” is a better option. “The idea is that every family will get €1000 a month as long as the Corona crisis continues,” she says. The policy would use Germany’s existing child benefit system, which is paid to families based on the number of children they have.
“People would automatically receive it instead of having to apply for it,” says Mahrt. She adds that this would remove barriers to access for those who may not be aware of the benefit or know how to request it.
“We are in a vicious circle: the job itself is not very appealing and up to one quarter of workers quit in the first five years.”
Mahrt believes this will have a wider positive impact: it could help reduce violence against women and children that may have increased as a result of new economic hardship. Single parents and parents of children with disabilities would also receive extra money. Mahrt stresses that the policy would give parents more options: they could compensate a family member who is already doing unpaid care work; use it to feed children who normally receive free school meals, or pay a babysitter.
For Mahrt, both the crisis and the solution are two-fold. She believes that, in the short-term, creative solutions such as “Corona Kindergeld” should be embraced in order to protect families and care workers. However, the larger crisis of care work can only be addressed with more government investment and better pay for workers.
Even though Kitas have reopened across Germany, Mahrt says that around 5600 workers are still missing because they belong to high-risk groups. “We are in a vicious circle: the job itself is not very appealing and up to one quarter of workers quit in the first five years,” she says. As a result of the pandemic, “we are finally recognising this work as essential, but it is not clear how anything will change. In future, we need to work on increasing the quality – as well as the quantity – of Kitas.”