国家责任与家庭功能:德国儿童照顾制度及其对中国的启示

State Responsibility and the Family Function:The German Child Care System and Its Implications

儿童照顾制度体现了照顾责任在国家与家庭之间以及两性之间的分工。文章认为,中国与德国在儿童照料方面具有相似的文化传统,均推崇家庭是儿童照顾的服务主体,但在制度安排上呈现出两种不同的发展路径。德国通过建立完善慷慨的津贴与育婴假制度积极保障家庭照护职能,并通过不断加强公共托育服务建设,使德国在儿童照顾领域的制度导向从"就业男性主导"模式向支持"双职工"模式转变。而中国长期将儿童照顾视作家庭内部事务。鉴于此,中国应当积极更新儿童福利理念,通过适度延长产假时间以及建立普惠性公共托育服务体系等制度安排,让照顾责任逐步向国家-家庭共担模式转变。

The child care system reflects the division of care between the state and the family,and between genders.China and Germany have similar cultural traditions in child care,as they both advocate that the family should take primary responsibility for child care,but there are two different development paths in the institutional arrangements.Germany actively protects the family care function by establishing a generous subsidy and maternity leave system.By continuously improving public care services,Germany has changed from a"male breadwinner"model to a"double-worker"model in the field of child care.China has long regarded child care as"internal family affairs"and takes residual state responsibility.In view of this,we should actively update the concept of child welfare,and gradually shift the care responsibility to the state-family sharing model by appropriately extending the maternity leave period and institutional arrangements such as an inclusive public care service system.