Mothers more frequently take time off for ailing kids compared to fathers
In Germany, Barmer health insurance, one of the largest health insurance companies with around 8.3 million insured members, recorded a total of 890,000 sick days for children in 2023. The distribution of these days, however, was more uneven than expected.
According to Christoph Straub, the CEO of Barmer, the uneven distribution reflects the persistent unequal distribution of family care responsibilities. In 2023, mothers submitted approximately 297,000 applications for sick leave for children, while men submitted around 108,000.
The trend of unequal distribution can be traced back to the traditional gender roles and labor market patterns. Women tend to take more parental leave and then often reduce their working hours in the years following childbirth, leading to a greater share of caregiving responsibilities and associated absences like child-related sick leave.
The expanded parental leave claim in Germany, introduced to encourage more equal sharing of parental responsibilities, has somewhat influenced this trend. Mothers now take slightly shorter parental leave, and fathers are taking more leave than before, leading to a more balanced distribution of childcare time immediately after birth.
However, the long-term impact on sick leave and reduced working hours remains skewed because many mothers still work reduced hours after maternity leave, which continues to drive gender differences in child-related absences.
Parents with more than two children can receive sick leave for children for up to 35 days, and single parents with more than two children can receive up to 70 days. Moreover, parents can apply for sick leave for children at their health insurance company, even if they work from home.
Sick leave for children can be taken flexibly for individual days, and it is available for every child insured under the statutory health insurance scheme who is under 12 years old. The sick leave usually provides 90% of the lost net wage.
In 2021, the number of applications for sick leave for children from mothers was 365,000, and from fathers was 139,000. This number decreased slightly in 2023, with mothers submitting 297,000 applications and fathers submitting 108,000.
The number of sick days for children also decreased from 877,000 in 2024 to 890,000 in 2023. However, the uneven distribution between men and women persists, highlighting the need for continued efforts to promote more equal sharing of family care responsibilities.
[1] Böhm, K., & Terrell, L. (2022). Gender inequality in parental leave and its impact on work-life balance: A comparative analysis of Germany and the United States. International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology, 13(4), 1293-1312. [4] Schmitt, M., & Winker, S. (2021). The impact of parental leave on the gender pay gap: Evidence from Germany. Journal of Population Economics, 34(4), 1113-1142.
- The uneven distribution of child-related sick days suggests that health-and-wellness, particularly family-health, remains a bone of contention in the shared responsibilities among parents, as evident in the significant discrepancy between the number of applications made by mothers compared to fathers.
- As science continues to reveal the long-term impact of traditional gender roles on work-life balance (Böhm & Terrell, 2022), the health insurance industry must address the issue of promoting science-based health and wellness initiatives that encourage equal parenting and reduce the persistent gender differences in child-related absences from work.
