German Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning (BBR) has observed the phenomenon of young and well-educated woman leaving their home regions (mainly rural regions) in East Germany in a report called “Women – men – spaces”.

The political change in Eastern Germany and in Eastern Europe 16 years ago was the beginning of dramatic social and economic transformations with impacts of demographic change in Eastern Germany. There has been a significant change in the population structure. The biggest labour migrant group included those between 18 and 35 years old, most of them women, and many well-educated. Besides the fact of a generally sinking birth rate in Germany as a whole (with the most severe decline experienced in the regions of the former GDR), labour migration impacts have narrowed the base of regional population pyramids - especially rural areas and in smaller towns. Not only are there greater numbers of older people than younger people but also fewer children today mean even fewer in the future. As a consequence, the population of eastern Germany is aging rapidly and cities are shrinking.

The disproportionally higher out-migration of women in the age of 18 to 29 years leads to a high percental unbalance of women and men in many areas of East Germany. This leads to many consequences for regional functions of today and for the next generations whose dimension cannot yet be calculated and foreseen so far.

The migration of young people away from rural areas is a result of worse education and job possibilities in their home regions. There are much higher career chances in cities and agglomeration areas. The thing that is exceptional in East Germany is firstly the migration rate, which is ten times higher than in West Germany. Secondly there is a much higher difference between men and women. It seems that young women react more and earlier to poorer job possibilities and unfavourable labour markets by migration than their male counterparts. The driving regional factors have been not yet been analysed in detail. The report „Women – men – spaces“ gives many hints by mapping the regional living conditions for men and women and by analysing the spatial impact on the different lifestyles of women and men by statistically advanced methods. The report is based on a number of indicators covering various aspects of living: education and training, professional life, compatibility of family and career, transport and mobility, housing. The findings show that the regional context is important for gender-related differences with regard to approximately 80 % of indicators investigated:

• Young men more often drop out of education and training.
  The greatest educational problems result from the fact that educational careers are still heavily dependent on the educational level and status achieved by the respective parents. Many regional differences can be attributed to the over- or underrepresentation of certain social groups at a regional level and partly to a smaller supply and worse accessibility of institutions facilitating higher education qualifications in rural compared to urban areas. One social problem that needs to be taken seriously is the dropping out of education. This is generally more widespread amongst young men than young women. An essential task of education policy is to make young adults more aware of the importance of a good education. A further task would be to break down the barriers between so called female and male professions.

• Women would like to work more, men get ahead.
  The high employment level of women, which characterised the GDR, still remains a feature today, whether owing to the self-perception of women, the higher number of child care facilities (still) available or owing to economic requirements. But the proportion of women employed in West Germany has also increased in recent years, above all due to the shift from an industrial towards a service economy and the concominant increase in the number of part-time jobs. Nonetheless, the proportion of men employed in West Germany is still significantly higher than that of women. And more good jobs are held by men, disproportionally more where more of the better jobs are available. From a spatial perspective, well educated men win out over equally-qualified women the further one moves away from the countryside to urban centres.

• Traditional gender roles are more entrenched in suburban districts than elsewhere.
  Working parents in suburban districts are, on the one hand, affected by compatibility problems between career and care responsibilities, but these are also the areas with the lowest employment rates particularly with regard to women. Infrastructure facilities, in particular for child care, are, on the other hand, less accessible here than in other districts. Apparently the compatibility problem in the urban periphery is „solved“ by one parent (temporarily) giving up employment.

• Men drive cars; women use public transport or walk.
  The mobility of women differs from that of men: while men usually travel by car, women make greater use of public transport or walk on foot. Wherever the local public transport infrastructure is good – mainly in urban centres – the differences between women and men are somewhat smaller. This also leads to a greater approximation of the distances travelled and the time required for individual journeys, despite continuing differences. Many of these different behaviour patterns are due to the availability of a vehicle and/or possession of a driving license. Young women are catching up in both categories and by now differ only little from men in this respect. It is to be expected that, they will adapt their mobility patterns more to the behaviour of men.

• Women rent housing, men buy it.
  Determining regional differences between genders in the area of housing is much more difficult than in most other areas because women and men live in partnerships or families and their own housing needs are mixed with those of the whole household. Nonetheless, some differences can be demonstrated: Women for example spend more time at home, attach greater value to a pleasant living environment and are relatively more willing to spend money on their home. But at the same time they are less likely to be the owner of their own flats or houses.

There are regional differences in life situations of women and men. The area related gender differences can principally be explained by different demands of women and men and their behaviour in their relevant areas. Therefore, the report likes to sensitise the spatial development policy in Germany to gender mainstreaming. The guiding principles and action strategies for spatial development in Germany“ published by the German Standing Conference of Ministers Responsible for Spatial Planning (4) for example call for guaranteed access to utilities and infrastructure facilities and employment options as well as for defined infrastructure and environment quality standards. The guiding principles in this case should also clearly call for improvements in providing equal opportunities for women and men primarily in order to meet their specific needs and wishes and secondly to avoid unfavourable regional structures leading to a highly age- and gender-related migration as described above.

The whole report is available in German language and can be obtained from the publishing section of the BBR and from bookshops. English summary is available as free download.

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