"It's not work"

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Three days before Equal Pay Day, Federal Chancellor Christian Stocker stated that childcare is not work.(Bild: Andreas Tröster)

Just three days before Equal Pay Day, Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker declared that, in his view, caring for children isn’t work. Green Party leader Leonore Gewessler and FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl were quick to respond with criticism—while the Chancellor’s Office is working to contain the damage.  

Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker is seeking to connect with the public. On Thursday, he did just that during a stop on his summer tour in Salzburg. That afternoon, he took questions from a select audience there. One of Stocker’s answers is now causing quite a stir.

Three days before Equal Pension Day—the day on which men have already received as much in pension benefits as women will by the end of the year—the chancellor declared that childcare is not work. The timing could hardly be worse. The gap stands at 39.4 percent—an average of over 1,000 euros per month. The main reason: the unequal distribution of precisely that unpaid care work that the chancellor refuses to recognize as work.

How the remark came about
A participant asked for more financial support for mothers. She calculated that women in Austria perform about 96 hours of unpaid childcare per week. Stocker’s response caught the audience’s attention—and even left moderator Arabella Kiesbauer briefly speechless. 

The chancellor’s remark, verbatim

“For me, childcare isn’t unpaid work, because I wouldn’t view childcare as work. Family isn’t something to be calculated in terms of paid work. If we view families as a business case, if we treat families as a mathematical example, then that’s a different image of family than the one I have. Family is taking responsibility for one another; family is saying ‘yes’ to one another; family is doing something without getting anything in return. I didn’t raise my children as a mathematical example.”

“For me, childcare isn’t unpaid work, because I wouldn’t consider childcare to be work,” said Stocker. But, he added, people don’t have to agree. Family shouldn’t be factored into paid work.

Three days before Equal Pension Day, Federal Chancellor Christian Stocker stated that childcare is not work.(Bild: Andreas Tröster)

“If we view families as a ‘business case,’ if we see families as a mathematical example, then that’s a different image of family than the one I have,” the chancellor continued. Family means doing things for one another without expecting anything in return. “I didn’t raise my children as a mathematical example.” 

The Greens struck back that very same evening. Caucus Chairwoman Leonore Gewessler wrote on Bluesky (see post above): “Mr. Chancellor, moms love. Moms work. Moms care. Moms work. Moms accomplish the unbelievable. Moms work. Moms keep this country running. Moms work. Unpaid. They don’t deserve to be mocked. They deserve an apology.”

Kickl Weighs In
Naturally, criticism from FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl wasn’t long in coming: “First there was Nehammer’s ‘burger’ remark, then Hattmannsdorfer’s out-of-touch frontal attack on part-time workers, whom he accused of simply being lazy and not wanting to work full-time. And now Stocker comes along and mocks the mothers of this country. This ÖVP is completely devoid of empathy, hostile to families, and light-years away from the reality of its own people’s lives.”

Anyone who dismisses the self-sacrificing efforts of mothers as a purely private matter has lost all touch with the people!

FPÖ-Chef Herbert Kickl

Chancellor’s Office Backtracks
The Chancellor’s Office sought to limit the damage. The Chancellor said he had in no way intended his remarks to question the fact that childcare is an extremely demanding task. Women in particular, who in many families take on the bulk of child-rearing, do a magnificent job. Children should not be viewed as a mathematical equation, but as the greatest joy in the world. Having children is a beautiful thing.