Disclosure: I’m half German and although I’d never actually lived there this was enough to hardwire me into a defensive position. Let’s just say that “two world wars and one world cup” was among the friendlier playground taunts. So when the BBC sent me and my family off to ‘become’ German I was predisposed to like the place. And as it happens I did. But there were some surprises in store and they began on day one. Our mission was to discover the secret of Germany’s economic success, by ticking off as many averages as possible. Average rental flat, average car, and so on. And in order for us to become an average German family, I had to be a hausfrau. This included a very alarming four hours and 11 minutes of housework every day.

You must enable javascript to play content ‘A traditional problem.’ Bee wants to understand why so few mothers with young children work

Back in our normal English life I’ve got four kids and I also work part time. So I don’t have the time, or the will, to devote such an abundance of time to cleaning. I was surprised at how few German mums work. On average two-thirds of mums with children under three don’t work compared to a third in the UK. Why? It seems a combination of financial incentives, short school days and cultural expectation is what keeps German mothers out of the workplace and this might make sense of the extremely low numbers of women in top jobs. The UK hadn’t previously struck me as an especially easy place to be a working mum but at least I generally don’t feel frowned upon. It’s hard enough to balance work and family, without feeling guilty about it. And I believe that keeping a foot in the door by working part time can make it easier for women to get a career back on track later on. Although I was a failure at the hausfrau gig our other adventures in Germanising were a resounding success.