322 CHRISTOPHER NEUMAIER AND ANDREAS LUDWIG
East Germany. During the 1970s, political measures focused on decreas-
ing the quota of part-time work, which was about 32 percent in 1976.^139
Sociopolitical leverage was put to work here in particular because part-
time work was especially prevalent among working mothers. Childcare
options had been expanded since the 1960s, but there was a major boom
in the 1970s. In 1970, for example, just 29 percent of children between
one and three years of age were in daycare; by 1980, this fi gure had
risen to 61 percent, and then 80 percent by 1989. In 1970, 47 percent of
children aged six to ten went to after-school care, but by 1980, 75 per-
cent were enrolled in these programs, topping out at 81 percent in 1989.
On the other hand, around a fi fth of parents did not take advantage of
the state-run expanded childcare options for preschool and after-school
care in the 1980s. By contrast, 65 percent of children attended kinder-
garten (preschool for ages four to six) in 1970, compared to 90 percent
in 1989.^140
Especially in terms of childcare, the diff erences between East and
West Germany were quite signifi cant. In the FRG, only about 1 or 2 per-
cent of one- to three-year-olds were in daycare, and only 2 to 4 percent
of elementary school children were enrolled in after-school care. Only
the attendance fi gures for kindergarten were similar to those in the East,
at around 39 percent in 1970 and 78 percent in 1980, which remained
steady up to 1989. Yet, one has to note that kindergarten spaces were
usually for all-day care in the GDR, but up to 88 percent of those in the
FRG were half-day spots according to the fi gures presented by the Cen-
tral Association of Catholic Kindergartens. According to these statistics,
then, a lesser percentage of West German children were enrolled in full-
time daycare.^141
Clear discrepancies between propagated ideals and the world of ev-
eryday life could also be seen in terms of the division of work within the
family in West Germany. For the most part, the ideal of a marriage based
on equal partnership did not become a reality; it was wives who still bore
the main burdens of housework. One reason behind the reticence of men
to help at home had to do with the lack of prestige associated with house-
hold chores. Interestingly, however, there was also a diff erence between
how men responded to this question on a theoretical level and what they
actually did in practice. Whereas most men said that they were open to
this new ideal of partnership and in fact supported it, they failed to make
any corresponding changes in their daily lives. This discrepancy was by
no means particular to the 1970s; it was still clearly evident in the 1980s
as well.^142 One thing stands out about this in particular: data collected
by social scientists between 1985 and 2007 indicates that even in those
relationships in which both partners took care of household chores, there