Kumulative Dissertation, Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg, 2018

By focusing on a period that saw a major increase in childcare provision in Germany, this cumulative dissertation investigates whether the provision of childcare services for under-threes is positively associated with maternal employment and a change towards less traditional gender ideology among parents with young children. In three self-contained research articles, the thesis explores, firstly, whether the increase in public childcare provision has facilitated short-term change in individual-level gender ideologies among parents with young children (Chapter 2). Secondly, it analyses whether higher levels of childcare provision were associated with shorter employment interruptions amongst mothers of under-threes (Chapter 3). Thirdly, the thesis investigates whether the association between childcare and maternal part-time or full-time employment varies according to first and second births, mothers’ educational attainment, and whether full-time childcare is available or provision that includes both full and part time places (Chapter 4). By linking rich individual- and household-level data from panel surveys with annual administrative childcare records at the county-level, the three studies apply a micro-macro approach in order to disentangle compositional differences at the individual-level and childcare policy variations at the macro level. Thus, the three studies aim at explaining the relationship between childcare provision and maternal employment as well as the formation of gender ideologies more thoroughly than many previous single country or comparative studies. In sum, the analyses indicate that public childcare provision was positively associated with a change in gender ideologies, as well as shorter employment interruptions and a higher likelihood of employment participation and more working hours among mothers, particularly in West Germany. Thus, the results lend support to the literature on the relevance of institutional change on life course changes in gender ideologies as well the literature on the positive relationship between public childcare provision and maternal employment.