Gender 'pay gap' exists even among German children, study finds
A new survey shows that even when it comes to young children, boys typically get more money than girls from their parents and as gifts.
The Children Media Study released on Tuesday shows that each of the country’s 7.17 million kids between the ages of four and 13 earn several hundred euros in pocket money and gifts each year.
But the survey of around 2,000 children and guardians also found a gap between what boys and girls receive. While preschool aged girls earned €17 a month on average, boys of the same age earned €20 a month - nearly 18 percent more.
This relative gender gap decreased though as kids got older. Within the age group of six- to 13-year-olds, girls earned on average €41 per month, boys earned €44 - 7 percent more.
The money the kids earned was used mostly for buying cookies, candy and chewing gum, as well as for magazines, comics and ice cream.
Nationwide for adults, Germany has one of the widest gender pay gaps in Europe, with women earning about 21 percent less than men in 2016, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The European average was about 16 percent in 2015, according to Eurostat.
"The main reasons (for the gender gap) were differences in the branches of activity and the occupations of women and men as well as unevenly distributed leadership and qualification-related job requirements," Destatis wrote in the most recent report this year.
"In addition, more women than men work part-time or are marginally employed."
SEE ALSO: Will knowing what your co-workers earn help women make as much as men?
When comparing women and men with similar qualifications and positions, German women still earned 6 percent less than men per hour in 2014, according to the most recent report from Destatis.
About every third child (37 percent) between the ages of six to nine owned a cell phone, while 84 percent of kids aged 10 to 13 had their own mobile phone.
The survey also found that more kids reported reading physical books than playing video games - a surprising finding for a generation that has never known a time without the internet. Three-fourths (72 percent) of kids said that they read a book or magazine multiple times a week, while slightly more than half (57 percent) said they played video games several times a week on some kind of device.
The study was conducted in collaboration with several different organizations, including Die Zeit newspaper and magazine Der Spiegel.
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The Children Media Study released on Tuesday shows that each of the country’s 7.17 million kids between the ages of four and 13 earn several hundred euros in pocket money and gifts each year.
But the survey of around 2,000 children and guardians also found a gap between what boys and girls receive. While preschool aged girls earned €17 a month on average, boys of the same age earned €20 a month - nearly 18 percent more.
This relative gender gap decreased though as kids got older. Within the age group of six- to 13-year-olds, girls earned on average €41 per month, boys earned €44 - 7 percent more.
The money the kids earned was used mostly for buying cookies, candy and chewing gum, as well as for magazines, comics and ice cream.
Nationwide for adults, Germany has one of the widest gender pay gaps in Europe, with women earning about 21 percent less than men in 2016, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The European average was about 16 percent in 2015, according to Eurostat.
"The main reasons (for the gender gap) were differences in the branches of activity and the occupations of women and men as well as unevenly distributed leadership and qualification-related job requirements," Destatis wrote in the most recent report this year.
"In addition, more women than men work part-time or are marginally employed."
SEE ALSO: Will knowing what your co-workers earn help women make as much as men?
When comparing women and men with similar qualifications and positions, German women still earned 6 percent less than men per hour in 2014, according to the most recent report from Destatis.
About every third child (37 percent) between the ages of six to nine owned a cell phone, while 84 percent of kids aged 10 to 13 had their own mobile phone.
The survey also found that more kids reported reading physical books than playing video games - a surprising finding for a generation that has never known a time without the internet. Three-fourths (72 percent) of kids said that they read a book or magazine multiple times a week, while slightly more than half (57 percent) said they played video games several times a week on some kind of device.
The study was conducted in collaboration with several different organizations, including Die Zeit newspaper and magazine Der Spiegel.
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