No parental leave for Christian Lindner: reason to be angry?

Can we be annoyed if Christian Linder says publicly that he will not take parental leave? But of course! Because the decision is not only private, but also political.

In 2023, only 26.3 percent of fathers in Germany took parental leave at all. Most of them only have the infamous two “father months”, which are often used for vacation together rather than for sole responsibility for the offspring. Women still bear the brunt of childcare in Germany.

It is obvious that this decision is not made freely when it is repeatedly distributed so unequally. The whole thing is due to the patriarchal structures of our society, from the gender pay gap to outdated role concepts, which sometimes actually make it more difficult for men at work to get the time they are entitled to with their children.

As a politician, Christian Lindner should know all of this and know these numbers. Parental leave and care work are a political issue for which there would be political solutions if people were willing to implement them.

And it is precisely this ignorance that can be accused of Lindner: Why is the topic not relevant to the election campaign despite a labor shortage? Lindner says that parental leave is “not provided for” for politicians and means that there is no legal regulation on this.

In other places in this country, child-rearing is not taken into account either. Katja de la Viña, CEO of Allianz Leben, has just given up her prestigious position – in favor of the children. Compatibility and top jobs? Seemingly impossible. But how is that supposed to change if there is no one to demand it and set an example? Lindner in particular, who usually loves to talk about progress, could have been specific here. If he really cared about equality.

Linder and his wife still want to share the care work, as he already assured in 2022. At that time he was very specific in an interview. He already has his ideas for when the children are here: writing books, maybe doing a doctorate, hunting, fishing, beekeeping. Does that sound like “we will stand on equal terms as a family”? Even.

Christian Lindner does not want to take parental leave after his time as finance minister and traffic light blower. It should hardly surprise anyone that the digital Christian, as he likes to think of himself, is on about the same level as Wolfgang Kubicki when it comes to equality.

Nevertheless, this announcement is causing excitement in some circles. Instead of looking after his child and his wife Franca Lehfeldt, Lindner would rather continue working because parental leave is “not provided for” in his job.

Is that progressive? Not a bit! Is he thus perpetuating old, patriarchal structures in which the man is back in the office as soon as his wife has warmed up the bed? In any case! You don’t have to think it’s great or support it. But: Whether someone takes parental leave or not is a private decision – and no one has any say in that. This also applies to a politician.

Of course, the ex-finance minister could have sent a message by temporarily withdrawing to support his wife after the birth of the child and to fulfill his fatherly duties. But no one has the right to demand this role model function.

What the Lindner/Lehfeldt couple agree on privately is their business. And yes: There should also be women who feel comfortable with this (old-fashioned) distribution of roles. Anyone who ignores this and demands from Lindner that he has to take parental leave because everything else is not up to date is really doing a disservice to female empowerment. Because he disenfranchises Lehfeldt from deciding for herself which concept of life best suits her, her marriage and her child.