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Objective: This study examines how the interplay of both partners' employment biographies is associated with the within-couple gender wealth gap in later life in Britain and Western Germany, including married couples born between the 1920s and 1960s. Background: Although it is well-known that women own less personal wealth than their male partners on average, variation in the gender wealth gap across partners' employment constellations and contexts remains unaddressed. Following the life course paradigm, this study theorizes how individual wealth accumulation, within-couple redistribution processes, and institutional arrangements shape the within-couple gender wealth gap in later life. Method: The analyses rely on retrospective employment and prospective survey data from Britain (UKHLS; Wave 8; 2016-2018) and Germany (SOEP, 2017). Sequence and cluster analyses detect patterns of dyadic employment biographies (ages 20-55) among different-sex couples in their first marriage and OLS regressions associate them with the within-couple gender wealth gap. Results: The within-couple gender wealth gap to the disadvantage of women existed in Britain and Western Germany, with considerably larger inequality in Germany. German male breadwinner couples, particularly those with longer periods of female homemaking and part-time employment, showed higher levels of wealth inequality. Whereas dyadic employment biographies were not clearly associated with the gender wealth gap in Britain, stable arrangements of female full-time employment reduced the gap in Germany. Conclusion: A similar division of labor throughout the life course can result in different levels of the within-couple gender wealth gap in later life across country contexts, particularly depending on the housing system.

Gender inequality in the division of household chores is a persistent issue over time and across country contexts, while differences within and between native and migrant couples remain largely unclear. Relying on the German country case, this study examines the association between partners' migration constellations and the division of housework. We differentiate between natives and first-generation migrants, and within first-generation migrants, we differentiate by their regions of origin. For the division of housework, we analyse traditionally female routine tasks and male non-routine tasks. Following gender and resource explanations, this study expects gendered variation in the way native, migrant, and mixed (i.e., native/migrant) couples divide housework. Utilising novel data from the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA-GGS sample, 2021), the paper employs OLS regression models to predict the division of housework among 11,223 cohabiting different-sex couples. The study finds a gender-traditional divide in routine household tasks among migrant couples, with heterogeneity across regions of origin. Specifically, women in Asian and Eastern European couples tend to do more routine tasks than their native counterparts, while the division of routine housework in couples from Western countries is more egalitarian. In mixed couples, the division of routine tasks is highly unequal if the male partner is a migrant. Non-routine tasks in mixed couples are, however, mostly performed by the native partner, irrespective of gender. The results suggest that the division of routine housework conforms to traditional gender roles across most migrant groups, while non-routine housework, such as financial tasks that require country-specific knowledge, is influenced by the native status, which serves as a resource in itself.

This study examines the prevalence of marital contracts across marriage cohorts (1990–2019) in Germany. We further investigate the characteristics of spouses who signed a marital contract. Using cross-sectional data from the German Family Panel (pairfam, 2018/19), we employ complementary log–log and multinomial logistic regression models to predict the prevalence and the type of marital contracts. The results show that 5% of all married couples opt out of the default matrimonial property regime by signing a contract in Germany. Differentiating between contract types, most couples either specify a separation of property (40%) or modify the default community of accrued gains (31%). We find an increase in the prevalence of marital contracts across marriage cohorts. The decision to opt out of the default is strongly positively associated with self-employment that often requires the customisation of asset ownership structures within marriage. Married individuals with prior divorce experiences are more likely to opt for the separation of property, indicating that the awareness of the economic consequences of divorce promotes the individualisation of marriage. Our results are in line with the cross-national trend towards customised marriages, although the trend in Germany is less pronounced than in other countries.

Abstract
This data brief introduces the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA; https://www.freda-panel.de/), a longitudinal, multi-actor database for family research. Major substantive fields addressed in the questionnaire include fertility-related attitudes and behaviours, reproductive health, work-family conflict, couples' division of labour, gender roles, intimate relationships, separation and divorce, parenting and intergenerational relations, and well-being. FReDA is based on two initially independent samples: the newly drawn FReDA-GGS sample (n_recruitment = 37,777 respondents, aged 18–49 years), constituting the German contribution to the Generations and Gender Surveys (GGS-II), and the FReDA-pairfam sample (n = 6,216 respondents who originally participated in the German Family Panel [pairfam]). Both samples are fully integrated, using one survey instrument consisting of the harmonized GGS-II and pairfam questionnaires. Mainly web-based interviews, complemented by paper-based interviews, are conducted biannually, with one wave being split across two subwaves. We provide a short description of FReDA's forerunners—the GGS and pairfam—and give an overview of FReDA's design and content, its baseline wave (collected in 2021) and data releases, as well as a brief outlook on FReDA's road ahead.