Family Matters

Seven visitors from Eastern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa travelled to Germany. They took a close look at the situation of families and in doing so saw the whole of society.

In the current debates on global migration, men still dominate the public image of migration. A look at private households and homes for the elderly opens up another reality.

Same-sex marriage and the third gender are legally recognized in Germany. But what are the consequences for the families concerned? An interview with professor of family law Nina Dethloff.

 “Other people have children out of love, we have them out of friendship” – the co-parenting concept can be compared with a patchwork family: the biological parents aren't together. The difference is that the trauma of divorce and the negative emotions of a failed relationship can be avoided with the first model.

“To have a child or not – that’s the choice we’ve got.” For a long time the sovereignty over a woman’s own body was one of the most important feminist demands. This is still, in fact, the case, but under different circumstances

At the beginning of 2019, population registers in Germany were amended to include a third gender category. The option box is headed ‘divers’, which translates as ‘miscellaneous’ or ‘other’, and it was introduced for a dual purpose: to remove the burden from parents faced with deciding an intersex child’s future and to show that being different can also be normal.

Domestic violence is still a huge taboo in Germany – despite alarming statistics. What do women need to know about this subject? What can they do? Nine questions and answers.