Well, I wasnt thinking about givin time off. Let me be more specific: while in West Germany it was common for females to stop working for more than 18 years (pa

Well, I wasnt thinking about givin time off. Let me be more specific: while in West Germany it was common for females to stop working for more than 18 years (paid by the family), in East Germany there seems to have been social pressure to go back to work after 1 year (or slightly more). (This is annecdotal evidence, but I think it was rarer in East Germany for the wife to completely stop working)