@phdthesis{Schmauk, author = {Schmauk, Sarah}, title = {Divorce and economic wellbeing. A life course perspective on the interplay of work-family lives in West Germany and Sweden}, doi = {10.48462/opus4-5049}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-50499}, school = {Hertie School}, pages = {191}, abstract = {This cumulative dissertation investigates the relationship between divorce and economic wellbeing from a life course perspective in West Germany and Sweden. The analyses are based on large-scale register data from the German public pension and the Swedish population registers. The first paper studies mothers' earnings trajectories from one year before their first childbirth until ten years after in both countries. Separation negatively affects mothers' earnings trajectories in Sweden, while it positively affects them in West Germany. In Sweden, although the earnings of separated mothers lag behind those of partnered mothers, both groups can surpass their pre-birth earnings, which is not the case for either separated or partnered mothers from western Germany. The second paper investigates how divorce relates to retirement trajectories, defined as the monthly insurance history from age 50 to age 65 of women and men in West Germany. Divorcees are more likely than married to retire through unstable retirement trajectories characterised by receipt of reduced-earnings-capacity pensions and unemployment. Whereas the relationship between divorce and retirement trajectories seems to be overall adverse for men, it is more ambiguous for women. Some divorced women are also more likely than married women to retire through a stable high-income trajectory. The third paper compares the gendered consequences of divorce on public pension income in both countries. Divorced women from West Germany have significantly higher public pension incomes than married women. The German 'divorce splitting' mechanism increases women's and decreases men's pension incomes, which contributes to equalising their public pension incomes. In Sweden, women show comparable pension incomes across marital status, although divorced women have slightly lower pension incomes, while divorced men receive approximately 26 \% less pension income than married men. The dissertation illustrates that family and work life are intertwined, that they unfold gradually across the life course, and that the welfare state context shapes the interrelation of divorce and economic wellbeing: The event of divorce (and separation) not only directly impacts employment biographies of mothers but is, in a long-term perspective, related to retirement trajectories of women and men and their public pension incomes.}, language = {en} } @article{SchmaukNylin, author = {Schmauk, Sarah and Nylin, Anna-Karin}, title = {Mothers' earnings trajectories in Sweden and West Germany: the role of separation, socioeconomic position, and the welfare state}, series = {Genus}, volume = {81}, journal = {Genus}, number = {1}, publisher = {Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, doi = {10.1186/s41118-025-00270-3}, abstract = {By studying mothers' labour earnings trajectories in Sweden and West Germany, this cross-national study emphasises strengths and weaknesses in both countries' social policy settings regarding the protection of mothers from the adverse effects of separation. Using extensive register data, our sample consists of women who gave birth between 1992 and 2014. The observation window ranges from one year before the first childbirth until ten years after. Utilising fixed-effects regression models, we estimate whether earnings trajectories differ between mothers who experience separation in the years after childbirth compared to mothers who remain partnered. Results show that separation is negatively linked to the earnings trajectories of first-time mothers in Sweden, whereas it is positively linked in West Germany. In Sweden, although the earnings of separated mothers lag behind those of partnered mothers, both groups can return to their pre-birth earnings levels. In West Germany, however, both partnered and separated mothers' earnings remain far below pre-birth levels. Our findings further reveal that in both countries, mothers with lower pre-birth earnings positions face the most disadvantaged situations following separation. Based on the findings, we would like to emphasise the importance of social policies that promote female economic autonomy throughout the life course, while avoiding cuts in welfare support that risk undermining mothers' economic safety net, as these would disproportionately affect single-headed families in lower earnings positions.}, language = {en} } @article{Schmauk, author = {Schmauk, Sarah}, title = {Pathways to retirement in West Germany: Does divorce matter?}, series = {Advances in Life Course Research}, volume = {60}, journal = {Advances in Life Course Research}, issn = {1569-4909}, doi = {10.1016/j.alcr.2024.100595}, abstract = {The aim of this paper is to explore how divorce is linked to pathways to retirement in West Germany and to understand whether and how patterns are gendered. Using German pension insurance data, I employ sequence and cluster analysis to map and group pathways to retirement of women and men who retired in 2018. Pathways to retirement are defined based on monthly pension insurance histories from age 50 to 65. I find nine distinct pathways to retirement, ranging from unemployment to stable low to high income pathways and to an early retirement pathway through the reduced-earnings-capacity pension, the latter representing 9.3\% of the sample. Based on multinomial logistic regression models, I analyse how marital status, distinguishing between divorced and (re)married, was related to different pathways to retirement. The results show that divorced people were more likely than married people to retire through indirect and unstable pathways to retirement characterised by early exit from the labour market and receipt of reduced-earnings-capacity pensions and/or unemployment benefits. Whereas the relationship between divorce and pathways to retirement seemed to be overall unfavourable for men, the results for women are more ambiguous. Divorced women were also more likely to retire through a stable high-income pathway than married women. Nevertheless, the results suggest that divorce is associated with an early retirement pathway through the reduced-earnings-capacity pension for both women and men.}, language = {en} } @article{KreyenfeldSchmaukMika, author = {Kreyenfeld, Michaela and Schmauk, Sarah and Mika, Tatjana}, title = {The gender pension gap in Germany: Is divorce a gender-equaliser?}, series = {Ageing \& Society}, journal = {Ageing \& Society}, doi = {10.1017/S0144686X21001513}, abstract = {Germany is one of the few countries in Europe that has implemented a system of 'divorce splitting'. Under this system, the pension credits that spouses have accumulated during their marriage are combined and then split equally between them upon divorce. This study examines how divorce affects public pension entitlements in Germany, and how these patterns are influenced by the system of divorce splitting. The data for our analysis comes from SHARE-RV, a direct linkage of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) with administrative data of the research data centre of the German Pension Insurance Fund (Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund). The data include information on the beneficiaries' monthly earnings and employment biographies, as well as on their pension entitlements and the credits they received through divorce splitting. The results of the analysis, which was restricted to West German men and women born between 1935 and 1954, reveal that there are large gender gaps in public pension benefit levels. However, the investigation also shows that single and divorced West German women have larger personal pension entitlements than their married or widowed counterparts. Furthermore, the public pension entitlements of divorced men and women in West Germany are very similar. This can be attributed partially to the divorce-splitting system, which tends to increase the pension benefits of divorced women, while reducing the pension benefits of their male counterparts.}, language = {en} } @article{SchmaukKridahl, author = {Schmauk, Sarah and Kridahl, Linda}, title = {Who receives the most? Gendered consequences of divorce on public pension income in West Germany and Sweden}, series = {Ageing and Society}, journal = {Ageing and Society}, doi = {10.1017/S0144686X23000703}, pages = {1 -- 24}, abstract = {Sweden and West Germany have had persistently high divorce rates in recent decades, but these two welfare states were differently equipped to mitigate the economic consequences of divorce for individual security in old age: Sweden followed a gender-equal policy approach to enable women and men to achieve economic autonomy, while West Germany, following the male-breadwinner model, introduced the system of 'divorce-splitting' to account for differences in women's and men's income. Against this background, this study uses large-scale register data from the German Public Pension Fund and the Swedish population registers to examine how divorce is related to the monthly public old-age pension income of women and men. The main comparison groups are divorced and (re)married individuals who entered retirement between 2013 and 2018. We descriptively show annual income histories from ages 20 to 65, and calculate monthly public old-age pension income with respect to lifetime income and pension regulations, such as the supplements/deductions for 'divorce-splitting'. Multiple ordinary least square regression models further examine how family status relates to monthly public old-age pension income by gender. The results reveal that women and men in Sweden experience similar working histories, although women's incomes are lower. This is also reflected in women still having lower pension incomes than men. However, divorced and married women show comparable pension incomes, while divorced men receive approximately 26 per cent less pension income than married men. In West Germany, divorced women have significantly higher pension incomes than married women. The system of 'divorce-splitting' increases women's and decreases men's pension incomes, which seems to equalise their pension incomes. However, both stay below a married man's pension income. The findings indicate economic inequality in public old-age pension income by family status in Sweden and West Germany.}, language = {en} } @article{HaanKreyenfeldSchmauketal., author = {Haan, Peter and Kreyenfeld, Michaela and Schmauk, Sarah and Mika, Tatjana}, title = {Rentenanspr{\"u}che von Frauen bleiben mit steigender Kinderzahl deutlich hinter denen von M{\"a}nnern zur{\"u}ck}, series = {DIW Wochenbericht}, volume = {92}, journal = {DIW Wochenbericht}, number = {12}, publisher = {DIW Berlin — Deutsches Institut f{\"u}r Wirtschaftsforschung e.V.}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {1860-8787}, doi = {10.18723/diw_wb:2025-12-1}, pages = {183 -- 189}, abstract = {Frauen verdienen auf dem Arbeitsmarkt im Durchschnitt deutlich weniger als M{\"a}nner. Im Jahr 2024 betrug der sogenannte Gender Pay Gap, der den Unterschied der Bruttostundenl{\"o}hne misst, in Deutschland 16 Prozent.info Da die Rentenanspr{\"u}che aus der gesetzlichen Rentenversicherung in Deutschland direkt von den L{\"o}hnen abh{\"a}ngen, {\"u}bertr{\"a}gt sich diese Lohndifferenz auch auf Unterschiede bei den Rentenanspr{\"u}chen. Der Unterschied zwischen M{\"a}nnern und Frauen wird als Gender Pension Gap bezeichnet.info Die unterschiedlichen L{\"o}hne sind aber nur ein Faktor f{\"u}r die Differenz. Weitere Gr{\"u}nde sind h{\"a}ufige Erwerbsunterbrechungen von Frauen, beispielsweise wegen Kinderbetreuung oder der Pflege von Angeh{\"o}rigen, Segregation auf dem Arbeitsmarktinfo oder Unterschieden bei der Teilzeiterwerbst{\"a}tigkeit, die sich auf geschlechtsspezifische soziale Normen und Stereotype zur{\"u}ckf{\"u}hren lassen.info Mit der Einf{\"u}hrung der Kindererziehungszeiten im Jahr 1986, die durch mehrere Reformen ausgeweitet wurden, sollten die individuellen Rentenanspr{\"u}che von M{\"u}ttern erh{\"o}ht werden. Damit sollte langfristig der Gender Pension Gap und auch der Motherhood Pension Gap, also der Unterschied zwischen den Rentenanspr{\"u}chen von Frauen mit und ohne Kinder, reduziert werden.info In diesem Wochenbericht werden auf Basis der Versichertenkontenstichprobe (VSKT) der Deutschen Rentenversicherung die Unterschiede bei den gesetzlichen Rentenanspr{\"u}chen von M{\"a}nnern und Frauen sowie f{\"u}r Frauen nach Anzahl der Kinder untersucht (Kasten 1). Dar{\"u}ber hinaus zeigen die Auswertungen, welche Rolle die Kindererziehungszeiten knapp 40 Jahre nach ihrer Einf{\"u}hrung spielen.}, language = {de} } @article{HaanKreyenfeldSchmauketal., author = {Haan, Peter and Kreyenfeld, Michaela and Schmauk, Sarah and Mika, Tatjana}, title = {The Gender Pension Gap Grows the More Children a Woman Has}, series = {DIW Weekly Report}, volume = {15}, journal = {DIW Weekly Report}, number = {12+13}, publisher = {DIW Berlin — Deutsches Institut f{\"u}r Wirtschaftsforschung e.V.}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {2568-7697}, doi = {10.18723/diw_dwr:2025-12-1}, pages = {79 -- 85}, abstract = {The gender pension gap, the difference in pension entitlements between men and women, is 32 percent for 60-yearolds according to data from the German Pension Insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung). In addition, there is a considerable motherhood pension gap: Statutory pension entitlements for mothers and childless women differ greatly. Pensionrelated childcare credits, which were introduced in 1986 and have been modified many times since, counteract this gap. Recognition of pension-related childcare credits reduce the difference in pension entitlements between childless women and mothers considerably, albeit only in the immediate years following the birth of a child. For the birth cohorts from 1952 to 1959, the motherhood pension gap for 60-year-olds in western Germany is 26 percent; pension-related childcare credits could not close the gap. Further social and tax policy measures supporting an equal division of care work and paid work are necessary. In addition to expanding public child care, reforms to joint taxation of married couples with full income splitting (Ehegattensplitting) and reducing subsidies for jobs with few working hours (Minijobs) as well as a restructuring of the workplace to be more caretaker-friendly are required.}, language = {en} } @incollection{KreyenfeldSchmauk, author = {Kreyenfeld, Michaela and Schmauk, Sarah}, title = {Widowhood and grey divorce}, series = {Research Handbook on Partnering across the Life Course}, booktitle = {Research Handbook on Partnering across the Life Course}, editor = {Mortelmans, Dimitri and Bernardi, Laura and Perelli-Harris, Brienna}, publisher = {Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd}, isbn = {9781803923383}, doi = {10.4337/9781803923383.00022}, publisher = {Hertie School}, pages = {178 -- 190}, abstract = {The death of a partner and union dissolution both mark the endpoint of a partnership. However, as these events previously primarily occurred at different life course stages, they have generally been investigated in separate strands of literature. With the growing prevalence of divorce at later ages, however, research on widowhood and "grey divorce" has moved closer together. This chapter examines whether and to what extent the findings on the consequences of grey divorce mirror the existing results on the consequences of widowhood. Attention is also given to the different ways in which welfare states buffer the adverse effects of the death of a partner and divorce on individuals' economic wellbeing at advanced ages. While this chapter seeks to summarize achievements regarding grey divorce research, we conclude with a critical discussion, which, among other things, reflects on the use of universal and fixed cut-off ages (such as age 50) to define grey divorce.}, language = {en} }