TEMA: Generation Jesus
Expected grandparental childcare is for some a threat to an active retirement
Grandparents play a central part in the early family logistics. This leads to an income decrease after the birth of their grandchildren. Scientists call it the grandchild penalty, a phenomenon which affects mostly grandmothers.
Offentliggjort
The expectations on grandparents from their adult children can for some feel very confining. According to Vibeke Lorenz though, the care of her grandchildren is always a pleasure.
“I can say no without having to justify it, when I feel a bit overwhelmed. In the beginning, it was hard to say no when your children ask for help,” says Vibeke.
A costly deal for women
Mette Gørtz, professor in economics at Copenhagen University, shows through her research, that grandmothers’ earnings drop after the arrival of grandchildren. The grandfathers’ earnings though remain largely unaffected. This creates a gender earnings gap of 10 percent after ten years.
“So, it's a cost to society and something that we intended to flag with our article,” says Mette.
Mette adds that the frequency of grandparental childcare has declined since the 1990s. Partly because that daycare availability has increased and options of early retirement has been reduced.
“The access to early retirement enabled older women to be able to provide much more care for their grandchildren,” Mette concludes.
This story is for an audience in any country and could be published in BBC Worklife.
