The coalition government’s financial package will allow women to take a year’s leave and return to work after having children, reports the International Herald Tribune. The policy is a victory for Merkel and her Christian Democrat Family Minister Ursula von der Leyen, both of whom have been fighting their conservative bloc which believes even educated women should just stay at home, says the report.

Merkel’s coalition partners, the Social Democrats, supported the plan, saying it marks the beginning of family reform.

Figures show currently 30 percent of German working women are childless. The country’s birth rate is far below that of its neighbors.

Other European countries having similar problems include Russia and France. Germany’s birth rate is an average 1.37 children per woman, compared with 1.9 in France, 1.81 in Norway, and 1.75 in Sweden.