The junior research group “Gender, Care, and Work” (GeSE) aims to strengthen gender research and embed it institutionally, while specifically using and expanding the IAB's data potential for gender-related research questions. In terms of content, the junior research group focuses on the interplay between gender, household context, and the labour market as central dimensions of gender-specific inequalities.

Currently, the junior research group's work focuses in particular on various research questions relating to the effects of care work on employment trajectories – for example, in the form of part-time work or wage losses – taking into account legal, firm-specific, and occupational conditions. A key question here is the gender-specific distribution of parental leave as a central factor in determining the future division of paid and unpaid work within the couple. Other projects focus, for example, on the family-friendly measures in the workplace, focusing on the question of whether and to what extent such measures influence parents' return to the labour market.

Based on administrative data and surveys, quantitative methods are used to gain in-depth knowledge of the underlying decision-making mechanisms for the division of paid and unpaid work in partnerships, as well as their consequences for mothers and fathers and the role of firms. These contribute to the existing literature and are the basis for high-quality policy advice.