Catholics Attack German Plans to Boost Child Care
| Reuters | Apr 08, 2007 |
The Epoc Times, Dublin Leinster Ireland
Comment: I found this to be an interesting article simply because it's so different from our own concerns. We are much more like Japan than Europe.
BERLIN—Several senior German Catholics attacked government plans to raise the capacity of nurseries on Sunday, with one bishop saying the policy reminded him of communist East Germany and that it served "antiquated feminism".
The plans to boost the birth rate and raise child care to levels seen in other European states have stirred controversy in Germany, where conservative attitudes towards women's role in the family persist, especially in the Catholic South.
The strongest attack came from Augsburg Bishop Walter Mixa, who targeted Family Minister Ursula von der Leyen's plans to triple the number of childcare places by 2013.
"The policy, which is modelled on the former East Germany, is socially misguided and driven to a high degree by ideology," Mixa told the Passauer Neue Nachrichten.
In western Germany, where mothers are still encouraged to stay at home, there is provision for only one in 12 toddlers. In the east, where the socialist state set up a comprehensive childcare system, two in five children are covered.
Von der Leyen, mother of seven, won agreement from Germany's 16 federal states and local communities last week on an increase in care provision for children under three but they failed to agree on who will pay for it.
Mixa, who has in the past criticised German family policies for turning women into "birthing machines", also said the plans "served the antiquated feminist demands from the 1970s".
He won support from other Catholics.
Notker Wolf, head of Germany's Benedictine Order, told Welt am Sonntag he had problems with von der Leyen's plans.
"This is more than an offer, this is about changing society. Obviously a woman only counts if she works like a man and does not care for her child like a mother," Wolf said.
Moderates, including Cardinal Karl Lehmann, head of the German Catholic bishops conference, called for a more measured debate. Lehmann told German radio DLF many families were dependent on childcare provision.
The minister is to present a blueprint for the financing of her plans by April 16.
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