The Impact of the Family Policy on the Transformation of Gender Roles in the Professional and Private Spheres on the Example of German Society

This article is an attempt to analyze the impact of different models of the family policy on the distribution of the tasks in paid labour and family economy between men and women. The example of Germany which experienced multiple shifts in its policy direction in the recent decades, provides rich material for cultural and historical comparison. It is argued that modern family policy should be designed as a flexible set of norms that reflect the dynamics of the social changes and recognize the diversity of an individual's configuration of a biographical way, family values and reproductive patterns. In terms of methodology the author proves the fruitfulness of the combination of statistics and biographical methods of sociological research, which focused on the changes of social phenomena and norms.