Motherhood and Political Careers – Can Female Mps Have Both?

There has been the notion that due to family responsibilities, women delay their political careers to after their children have grown. If they enter politics earlier in life, then they tend to remain childless. In this paper I wish to investigate whether or not this notion is true for German Bundestag members. Are women less likely to have children than their male counterparts? Are they entering politics after their children have grown? Are female MPs with family responsibilities less likely to hold leadership positions in parliament? Using a dataset of German MPs from 2005 to present, I will try to answer these questions and thus offer further insights into the circumstances influencing political career decisions of female politicians.