How it works with children.

More and more women find motherhood alone too restricting, and attach great value to having a paid job. If they have children, therefore, most women carry on working, though virtually all of them drastically reduce the number of hours they work.
This survey of 2,000 mothers with young children reveals that they rarely cut back their working hours because they are unable to obtain or afford childcare. Much more important for mothers is their desire to look after their children entirely or largely themselves. They see only a modest role for childcare services. If third parties are brought in, this is for no more than a couple of days per week, and mothers generally prefer to entrust their children to family or friends, with grandparents in particular being regarded as a reliable source of childcare. Far fewer women are willing to entrust their child to formal childcare facilities. More or cheaper formal childcare will accordingly not automatically lead to an increase in the labour participation of mothers. As a labour market instrument, childcare will only be able to play a greater role if opinions on caring for children change.