According to Germany’s latest official data, inflation reached 8.7% in January and February 2023. Energy prices rose 23.1% in January, and food prices rose 21.8% in February. This rapid increase has left many households, especially those with children, unable to maintain a decent and dignified standard of living.
The day-to-day effects of rising prices for rights-critical goods and services clearly have a gendered component.88% of single-parent households in Germany are headed by women and are dominated by low-income households..
Over the past few weeks, Human Rights Watch has interviewed 11 working single mothers in Saxony, Baden-Württemberg, and Bavaria. All but one of them reduced their protein and fresh food intake, skipped meals so their children could eat, and heated only one room of the house (the children’s bedroom or the living room, which is used as a shared bedroom). reported that it did.
“Maggie,” a 36-year-old health care worker, sat with us at the kitchen table and showed us her household finances while her 4-year-old slept in the next room. Maggie described her situation as a single mother with a low income:
“It does something to your head. There’s always existential fear. In fact, you’re pushing your limits every day and in everything. And I think as a person [feel like] I no longer exist. ”
Maggie isn’t alone. Ten of the 11 women we interviewed said they had reduced heat, food, or both over the past year to feed their children. We found similar findings in the online responses to our extensive survey. The speed at which this trend is normalizing is frightening.
People in Europe’s largest economy should not struggle to enjoy guaranteed social and economic rights, including the right to food, housing and an adequate standard of living. However, in the course of our research, we repeatedly hear that people are not able to secure an adequate standard of living. Germany has a poverty problem that particularly affects women and children. The time is now to recognize this problem and develop long-term, rights-based policy solutions.