To what extent did the role of women in German society change between 1871 and 1990?

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  • Created by: becky.65
  • Created on: 16-02-18 16:35

Roles in the family and the workplace in the 19th

  • The role of women tended to be quite traditional
  • Men were viewed as soldiers and defenders of the home and fatherland
  • A woman's role was to provide maternal care, providing emotional support to the family and tending to the sick of society 
  • Germany's national code legalised the lower status of women
  • Men had authority in all matters relating to :
    • his family's children
    • administrative power over his wife's property and wealth
    • power of attorney over his wife's legal contacts
  • Women were denied the vote, restricted in education, work and politics
  • Growing industrialisation did see women enter the workforce
  • The female sectors of work were considered to be textiles, garment making and food processing
  • These were the lowest paid, least skilled and most unprotected areas of the economy
  • They were restricted from positions in heavy industry or management, which were seen as fit for only men
  • Even where men and women worked together, women's work was deemed 'unskilled' compared to men's being 'semi-skilled', thus allowing lower pay and worse conditions
  • Women who worked were still expected to take the full burden of family-raising
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Roles in the family and the workplace in the 19th

  • 1891 women were allowed:
    • six weeks of maternity leave
    • 11-hour working day
    • to not be employed in the mining industry
    • more time off at lunch and on Saturdays so they could perform domestic duties
  • Although this offered protection for women, it focused on the idea that the proper place for women was in the home
  • Growing concern that industrialisation was leading to more women entering the workforce which was believed to lead to poor health among women, leading to infant mortality and miscarriages, thereby threatening the German nation
  • 1885 - Emma Ihrer established the Society for the Protection of Women Workers' Interests which provided doctors and lawyers for women without charge
  • It campaigned for women's rights and pressured the Reichstag to conduct an official survey of wages in the clothing industry
  • 1886 - group had 1,000 members / the government banned it
  • 1890 - Ihrer became the first and only woman elected to the General Commission of German Trade Unions
  • SPD was the only political party that called for an end to Germany's discriminatory legal system and campaigned for female suffrage
  • It had its own women's section, led by Zetkin, which published the newspaper 'Equality'
  • 19th March 1911 - Zetkin helped to found the first ever International Women's Day
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Roles in the family and the workplace in the 19th

  • Luxemburg was a prominent SPD member
  • Zetkin and Luxemburg were an exception to the position of the average woman in society
  • 1894 - BDF was founded; campaigned for middle-class women to have equality in education and politics and allowed them to organise their own affairs
  • The Federation of German Women's Associations focused on reforming the civil code
  • The government refused to change Germany's civil code
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The impacts of the First World War

  • Women played a major role in political opposition to WWI
  • 1914 - Zetkin, Luxemburg and Kahler were among the few SPD memebers who rejected the party policy of suporting the war
  • 1915 - Zetkin organised the internation socialist women's anti-war conference in Berlin
  • Luxemburg and Zetkin were arrested several times due to their opposition to the war
  • The type of work women engaged in changed
  • The shortage of men saw women enter into previously barred industrial positions
  • They worked in chemical, iron, steel and engineering industries 
  • Women took up positions in postal and transport sectors
  • Women experienced a new sense of freedom as they became the primary breadwinners in the family which enhanced their position in society
  • Women's work was now promoted by the government as essential for Germany's survival
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The impacts of the Weimar Republic

  • Weimar Constitution granted all women the vote
  • 1919 - Women made up 9.6% of the new Weimar parliament 
  • Female Reichstag members remained at around 6 - 7% throughout the Weimar period (only 1% in USA and 2% in UK)
  • Women made up 6.1% of the members in state parliaments
  • The Constitution guaranteed equality in education and equal opportunity employment in the civil service and equal pay
  • 1914/20s - BDF's membership grew from 300,000 to 900,000
  • Emergence of the 'double earners'; married women who worked which enhanced their economic independence
  • Tradition idea of marriage became less possible because:
    • women's new found independence
    • their enhanced status
    • greater employment opportunities
    • loss of two million men during WWI
  • The 'new Weimar Woman' challenged traditional culture
  • For conservative Germans, this reflected the breakdown of society taking place under the Weimar Republic
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The impacts of the Weimar Republic

  • However, many aspects remained the same:
    • the role of wife and mother was viewed as the preferable outcome for young women
    • if they were to work it was expected they would do this before they were married
    • working women were still in the jobs of lowest status and least pay
  • Weimar contributed to more opportunities for women but the traditional attitude towards women remained the same
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Nazi policies

  • Women's duty was to ensure they gave birth to a plentiful race of healthy Germans, who would contribute to the country's cause and were raised with the correct ideals, focused on nationalism
  • 'new Weimar Woman' was seen as a threat and propaganda depicted her as a danger to society
  • The Nazis reflected older German thinking and shared the same beliefs as conservative women
  • 1930s - Nazis electoral breakthroughs were well supported by women voters, despite their anti-feminist ideology, unemployment and caring for the family whilst their husbands also struggled for worked led them to vote for the Nazis
  • 1. All feminist and female working groups were banned
  • 2. Women were barred from government employment and practising medicine and law
  • 3. Female assistant teachers were dismissed
  • 4. Women were barred from jury service
  • 5. 1933/5 - female secondary school teachers declined by 15%
  • 6. 10% limit was placed on female enrolment in universities
  • 7. An interest-free loan was provided to young couples if the wife did not work
  • 8. The syllabus for girls at school focused on domestic science
  • 9. The wearing of make-up was discouraged
  • 10. The police reprimanded women smoking in public
  • 11. Propaganda encouraged women to not concern themselves with their weight as it was believed to restrict their ability to give birth
  • 12. Women were encouraged to wear skirts
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Nazi policies

  • 13. Mother's Cross and financial incentives were awarded to mothers who had 4 or more children to encourage them to contribute to the German race
  • September 1933 - Deutsches Frauenwerk was established to provide education about domestic work and child-rearing
  • The Nazis slogan for women was 'Kinder, Kirche, Kuche'
  • In the Kaiserreich, the attitude to women was middle-class domesticity, but the Nazis saw women's duty as breeding Germany's new 'master race'
  • Physical and racial fitness was required
  • Abortions were banned and genetic 'counselling centres' were set up to ensure couples planning on having a family were of the 'right' genetic stock
  • 1935 - Lebensborn Programme provided an adoption system for 'racially pure' unmarried mothers to give up their babies to ** officer families, so they could be raised by 'racially pure' parents
  • Those deemed 'racially unfit' were discouraged from having children
  • 1933/45 - the Nazis engaged in forced sterilisation, euthanasia and mass murder to ensure only 'racially fit' children were born
  • Overall, the Nazis failed to restrict the female labour force
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Nazi policies

  • The preparation for war meant women provided a cheap workforce essential to the economy
  • 1939 - women made up 33% of the workforce
  • In the clothing industry they were 66% of the workforce and in metalworking, they were 12%
  • Rearmament required more female employment in semi- and unskilled work
  • 1937 - Nazis rescinded the marriage loan qualifications so they applied to all women
  • 1938 - introduced a compulsory 'duty year' for all unmarried women under 25 who wanted to seek employment which directed them into the clothing, textiles and tobacco industries
  • 1935/8 - women's pay increased at a faster rate compared to men
  • During WWII the Nazis sought greater female participation in industry to help with the war effort
  • 1943 - 3 million women 17-45 were conscripted into work; those deemed in poor health or had one child under 6 or two under 14 were exempted
  • The policy was a failure with only 900,000 extra women entering the workforce
  • 1945 - women made up 60% of the wartime labour force
  • Hitler and Goebbels became concerned that pressure on women not to wear make-up, not to smoke and to dress in skirts might turn women against the Nazis
  • By 1938 it was clear the Nazi prioritisation of rearmament outweighed their attempts to limit women's employment
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The Second World War and post-war opportunities

  • 1950s - Kindergeld programme was based on the situation whereby the male would be the main worker and the female and children would be at home
  • Benefits would only go to families with three or more children which excluded many working women who were single or widowers who did not have a large family
  • 1957 - pension scheme discriminated against women as women who had part-time work or had taken maternity leave would not receive the full amount
  • Female membership of political parties was only 4.4%
  • The West German Basic Law did guarantee the legal equality of women
  • 1957 - wives were given legal equality with their husbands
  • 1959 - a father's complete authority over all matters relating to the children was removed
  • 1980 - women made up 39% of the labour force
  • The demands of the expanding labour market had been filled by the migrant guest workers
  • Women still mainly worked in the jobs of lowest status and pay
  • 93% of part-time workers were women
  • Women's pay was 30% lower than that of men
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The Second World War and post-war opportunities

  • There were increased opportunities for women in education
  • 1960 - women made up 30% of higher education students
  • 1980 - women made up 37.9% of higher education students
  • 1970s - feminist movements began to push for greater opportunities for women
  • This pressure resulted in women being granted complete equality in marriage; a woman could seek employment without her husband's permission and divorce was made easier for women to obtain
  • 1980s - female admissions to university equalled the number of men
  • 1989 - female students made up 41% of uni students
  • 1980 - government created a national officer for women's affairs to work towards equality
  • 1988 - Rita Sussmuth became the first President of the Bundestag
  • Germany remained a country where men dominated the higher positions of employment
  • Women made up 75% of total staff at hospitals and 50% of school staff
  • 4% of physicians and 20% of principles and 5% of uni professors were female
  • Women were still judged in terms of their father's or husband's employment
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