Gender Flashcards
(170 cards)
1
Q
Until what year was housework legally defined as a wife/mother’s job in West Germany?
A
1977
2
Q
How did the 1958 Equal Rights Law in West Germany confirm traditional gender hierarchies and continue to subordinate women? (2)
A
It did not relinquish a father’s prerogative in disputes over the upbringing of children or his legal status as the representative of the family.
3
Q
Despite the Federal Constitutional Court’s 1959 intervention in West Germany over the unconstitutional nature of the 1958 Equal Rights Law, what remained the same?
A
The concept of “housewife’s marriage” was unaffected by the changes and the idea of a “natural functional division” between sexes was still unchallenged.
4
Q
What did the Allied Control Council ban in West Germany after the war? (3)
A
Books advocating violence, wearing military dress, fencing sports clubs
5
Q
Why was the demilitarisation of masculinity so important to postwar reconstruction in West Germany?
A
They needed men to return to the workforce and industries to help rebuild the damage and needed to distance them from crimes committed as part of the Wehrmacht and the mass collaboration under Nazi regime
6
Q
Despite the West German ideal of the male breadwinner and the housewife in the immediate postwar, why did wives often work?
A
New luxuries could not be afforded by the average income of the family man
7
Q
By what year had the economic miracle meant that consumer goods were more accessible to West Germans if one saved up?
A
1952
8
Q
In a 1956/7 survey of West German women, why did most women say that they worked?
A
So that they could raise their standard of living and afford new consumer luxuries, not out of economic necessity
9
Q
In a 1956/7 survey of West German women, what were the social implications of being a working mother?
A
Social scorn was directed at mothers who “neglected” their children working during the day.
10
Q
What do the results of the 1956/7 survey of West German women confirm of De Beauvoir’s claims in the Second Sex?
A
That motherhood was an imposition and restricted women from being able to do what they pleased due to social pressures and lack of support
11
Q
How many West German women had tried the contraceptive pill by 1964?
A
Only 2000
12
Q
In the early 1960s what were West German activists furious about regarding the contraceptive pill?
A
That some doctors would not prescribe the pill to unmarried women - it became a cause célèbre.
13
Q
By 1968 how many West German women were using the pill?
A
1.4 million
14
Q
What did Beate Ushe learn in the immediate postwar period (1945-6) from housewives?
A
Former soldiers were returning from war and impregnating their wives with no regard for the fact they had “no apartment, no income, and no future” for any children.
15
Q
What did many women who found themselves pregnant with no prospects in West Germany do following the war?
A
Visit untrained abortionists as abortion was illegal
16
Q
What did Beate Ushe do in response to the issues facing many young housewives following WWII?
A
She set up a mail-order sex shop and put together resources for women
17
Q
What sort of things did Ushe’s business do?
A
Gave information for women detailing different contraceptive methods, sold condoms and books on marital hygiene, and highlighted that sex should be a joint decision and discussed way to make sex more equal.
18
Q
How large had Beate Ushe’s sex shop grown by 1962?
A
It had 1.5 million customers, 200 employees, and had opened the first sex shop in Flensburg.
19
Q
According to Herzog in Sex after Fascism what did the 1960s give rise to in West Germany amongst the young predominantly?
A
The idea that liberated sexuality was anti-fascist, and that this was the appropriate way to move away from the Nazi past and prevent a repeat of WWII.
20
Q
What did young radicals in WG use to try to understand their parent’s generation’s participation in the persecution/murder of European jewry?
A
Austrian Freudian Marxist Wilhelm Reich’s 1920s/30s work
21
Q
What was the central argument of Wilhelm Reich’s 1920s/30s work?
A
That “cruel character traits” were evident among those who were sexually dissatisfied while sexually satisfied people displayed “gentleness and goodness.”
22
Q
What did young WG radicals aim to do by following Reich’s guidance?
A
Treat their young children’s sexuality as normal and healthy rather than dangerous and deserving of repression so that they could prevent the formation of fascistic personalities int he future
23
Q
When was consensual adult homosexuality decriminalised in West Germany?
A
May 1969 but only for those over 21
24
Q
What was decriminalised at the same time as consensual adult homosexuality in West Germany?
A
Heterosexual adultery
25
What did West German journalist Oswalt Kolle produce?
A series of extremely successful movies where naked couples awkwardly discussed their sexual problems with experience voice-overs providing reassurance and solutions, encouraging communication for healthy marriages
26
When were Kolle's movies successful among the rise of movies about Sex education/encouraging healthy sexual relationships in West Germany?
Predominantly in the 1970s - suggesting 1968 was the turning point but things didn't actually change until the 70s
27
Which Kolle movies did air in 1968?
The Wonder of Love and Sexual Partnership
28
In France, who was housing legislation introduced to deal with the housing crisis advantageous for?
Those with large families
29
What ministry was established in France during the immediate postwar period due to demographic anxiety?
The Ministry for Public Health and Population
30
In France, how did the government assist young couples, and what was some of this assistance conditional on?
With loans - some conditionally demanded the couple had a child
31
When did the family allowance payments from the French state increase?
When couples had more children
32
When was the husband formally deposed as head of the family in France?
Not until 1970
33
Until when were French women legally classed as minors?
Well into the 1960s?
34
What did women being legally classed as minors mean?
They still needed paternal or a husband's consent in order to open a bank account or work outside the home
35
What happened to the numbers of women in the workforce in France between 1954-62?
Numbers dropped
36
In the 1960s, how much less did French women earn than men?
10% less
37
In the 1960s, how did French women suffer job insecurity?
They were the last hired and the first fired
38
Why did many French women decide to stay at home and receive benefits rather than work in the 1960s?
It was a better financial decision
39
In France, what sort of labour were women disproportionately involved in?
Unskilled labour
40
In France, how did working women's tasks differ from men's?
They were more repetitive, sedentary, and unchallenging - similar to household tasks
41
What does the nature of women's employment in France in the 1950s and 1960s confirm of De Beauvoir's arguments?
That the work women were doing was not emancipatory and not the same as men's and thus forced them to be housewives
42
What percentage of unskilled female factory workers in France would have preferred to do something else as Duchen notes?
84%
43
Why could the female factory workers Duchen notes not do something else?
Because they lacked the qualifications
44
According to the study which Duchen notes, what did most French female factory workers perceive industrial work as?
Something to endure until marriage allowed them to leave work
45
In France when was the pill originally available?
Only by prescription to "Regulate menstruation"
46
In France, why was the promotion of contraception illegal during the 1950s and 1960s?
Because it had been criminalised since 1920 due to demographic anxieties in the interwar period
47
When was the French Movement for Family Planning established?
1956
48
By the 1960s, how many centres did the French Movement for Family Planning have across the country?
200
49
How did the French Movement for Family Planning openly flout the 1920 law against promoting contraception?
They promoted contraception including the pill
50
What does the French Movement for Family Planning's open flouting of contraceptive laws reveal?
The clear contradiction between practice and legislation in France with regard to reproductive rights
51
What prompted de Gaullist deputy's proposal to decriminalise the promotion of contraception?
The clear contradiction between practice and legislation
52
When was the decriminalisation of promoting contraception in France given assent?
1967
53
What did the French government hope legalising the promotion of contraception would do?
Reduce the number of illegal abortions taking place
54
Despite abortion not being legalised until 1974, how do we know many women were still getting them during this period?
It was the single biggest mobilising issue for the Movement for the Liberation of Women founded in 1970 in the wake of 1968 protests.
1971 Manifesto of the 343.
55
What were popular slogans of the French student revolts of 1968?
"The more I make love, the more I make revolution"
| Demands for "orgasm without limits"
56
Why did student revolts at Nanterre actually begin?
Because of the frustration of male students over not being able to access female dorms
57
Were the student protests of 1968 in France gender equal?
They were male dominated and the experiences of marginalisation motivated the organising of feminists in the 1970s
58
Which Algerian woman served in the leadership of the Women's International Democratic Federation?
Mamia Chetnouf
59
Who was Mamia Chetnouf a representative for at Women's International Democratic Federation?
The FLN
60
What was Mamia Chetnouf the former president of?
The nationalist, all-Muslim women's organisation the AMFA
61
Where was Mamia Chetnouf a prominent spokesperson?
WIDF congresses and meetings
62
When do French women get the vote compared to Algerian women?
1944 vs "Indigenous Muslim" women in French Algeria are not extended the vote until 1958
63
Where was the Women's International Democratic Federation founded and when?
In Paris in 1945
64
Who was the founding President of the WIDF?
French woman Eugenie Cotton
65
Where did the WIDF move to once it was banned by the French authorities for being Communist-leading and pro-Soviet?
East Berlin where it was supported by the East German government
66
What happened to Algerian women in France when they protested against the arrest, torture, and deportation of their sons and husbands back to Algeria?
They were arrested
67
How did the Union of French women support arrested Algerian mothers?
They organised the collection of milk, food, and money, and looked after their children
68
What did the WIDF's statement to the UN Secretary-General in 1947 highlight?
The suffering of Algerian women throughout military operations, the widespread use of torture, exile, and execution without trial
69
How did the French beneficent state and welfare providers treat Algerian women and families compared to male workers and why?
They targeted Algerian women and aimed to make them into modern French housewives in the hope this would defeat Algerian nationalism
70
When did the project of targeting Algerian women and make them modern French housewives change?
1958
71
What do interviews with married East German women in the 1950s suggest?
That many of them were pregnant brides and that they were poorly informed about the physiology of sex and contraception
72
When was Sex education introduced in East German schools?
1959
73
When was a sexual advice book for young adults published in East Germany?
1956
74
Who wrote the sexual advice book for young adults published in East Germany in 1956?
A male doctor
75
What did the 1956 East German sexual advice book for young adults address?
Contraception in a positive manner, whilst warning strongly against abortion and included different contraceptive methods
76
Why did the 1956 sexual advice book for young adults include information about different contraceptive methods?
Because the quality of condoms at this time in the GDR were bad and this was a big issue, but most didn't know of other methods
77
What was the 1956 EG sex books' emphasis on sex being for pleasure have its roots in?
Weimar discourse - Wilhelm Reich's book
78
What percentage of women were raped during liberation/occupation by Soviet forces?
c. 10-20% of the women of Berlin, Vienna, and Budapest
79
What did the mass rapes of women by Soviet forces lead to?
A rise in STIS, unwanted pregnancies, and illegal abortions
80
What was the rise of STIs in Vienna and Budapest?
The number of women in Vienna with STIs doubles and tripled in Budapest
81
Were women able to discuss the rapes they had suffered with family?
No
82
What did the mass rapes do to women?
It deeply alienated them from the occupying administration and from their families
83
What did East German authorities do concerning mass rapes?
They called for a frank discussion within the party but Ulbricht said it needed to wait but by 1950s the topic had become taboo and could not be spoken about
84
What added to the imbalance of men to women in East Germany?
The influx of German-speaking refugees from Eastern Europe
85
How did East German authorities try to address the crises in gender relations?
1954 liberalisation of divorce and right for a woman to work outside the home
86
When were homosexual relationships decriminalised in East Germany?
1968
87
Why did East German homosexual people still encounter difficult circumstances?
They were unable to organise clubs to fight prejudice, institutions to facilitate relationships, or events to raise public awareness of the problems they faced because of the controlling nature of state
88
What did League of Women in Poland do in the Stalinist era?
They sought to advance women's involvement in politics and employment, and gave advice on how to combine being a housewife, and a worker, and a social activist
89
Post-Thaw of 1956, what did both the Polish League of Women and the state do?
They increasingly embraced traditional ideas about proper gender roles related to running a household
90
What did the Polish League of Women begin to advocate following the Thaw?
A gendered division of housework, teaching women how to be wives and mothers
91
What was the New Communist woman supposed to repudiate in Poland and why?
Frivolous, superficial bourgeois inventions so she could focus her energy on a strong work ethic
92
What did 1940s Italian magazines regularly printing Max Factor ads featuring Rita Hayworth as Gilda aim to do?
Invited Italian women to participate in the beauty secrets of Max Factor, American women, and Hollywood stars
93
In France, what proliferated 1950s/60s advertising and women's magazines?
Normative discourses about comfort
94
What does Rebecca Pupil argue?
The development of consumer politics in France gave women more agency as through their new role as "consumer citizens" they were considered and targeted by advertisers, businesses and the state in ways they had previously not been, and as they were responsible for the financial decisions of the household
95
What does Jackie Clarke argue?
That French women gained a dual role as worker-consumers, not just consumer-citizens in the postwar era and they gained agency through this
96
In France, why was it not just in the home that women's work was central to the expansion of the domestic appliance industry?
Due to the feminisation of the industrial labour workforce
97
According to a 1968 French study, what was the average age of the 80% female workforce in unskilled jobs?
C. 18/19
98
Who was Moulineux, one of the largest French domestic appliance companies, staffed by predominantly?
Women
99
In the immediate postwar period, what was the gender imbalance in West Germany?
67% of the country was made up of women and children
100
When did Allied Command conscript all women aged 15-50 for reconstruction work in West Germany?
October 1945
101
What did Allied Command's conscription of West German women and girls do to images of femininity?
It created a new feminine image of the rubble women
102
In West Germany, what was the revival of industry dependent on, at least until the influx of migrating eastern Germans restored the gender imbalance?
Women's labour
103
From the late 1950s, what happened to West German women in the labour market?
They were confined to the least skilled and least remunerative sectors of the labour market
104
In Italy, what fuelled the success of illustrated magazines like Grand Hotel?
The prosperity of beauty contests, dancing, mass interest in the seaside and the idea of social mobility
105
What did illustrated magazines like Grand Hotel in Italy do?
Adapted Hollywood ideology for young women
106
Why does Anne Oakley's 1960s study of London housewives suggest the new domestic modernity was not necessarily great for women?
Increased living standards and leisure time → home becoming a place where people spent more time/renewed sense of importance/pride/increased standards and expectations for home and mothering. Housewife the one who had to upkeep all of this, and appliances also needed upkeep.
107
In East Germany, what did official propaganda produce in order to keep their promises of helping to lighten women's task of producing clothes in the home?
Consumer magazines published paper patterns
108
What did East German officials admit was necessary in the late 1940s/50s?
That home sewing was necessary to compensate for supposedly temporary shortcomings of GDR's textile and garment industries
109
According to market researchers, how many million hours annually did women spend on hand knitting outerwear alone in East Germany?
C. 220-300 million hours
110
In Poland, the advent of new ideas of young womanhood meant the modern girl was filled with contradictions, how?
She aspired for financial independence, the pursuit of diverse non-domestic activities and empowerment but was not focused on discussing commitment to communist ideology
111
From 1956, what did the popular press focus on with regards to new ideas of young womanhood?
Goals of modernity and progress
112
What do letters from DFD mass woman's organisation in East Germany reveal about women and politics?
That women filtered their political consciousness through the lens of chronic consumer issues and that this was a common path for female political involvement
113
What did a woman from Pankow say in her letter to the the Party functionary who led the DFD and was head of a State Commission to deal with trade problems?
“it is known that empty cooking pots play a more important role for housewives than the greatest political events. Even Stalin’s severe illness recedes into the background.”
114
What did the Polish League of women protest and how?
Price hikes on food products especially meat, by using less meat consumption
115
What did the League of Women's protest of price hikes deliberately gloss over?
The real economic problem of meat shortages
116
What was Filipinka?
The first and only magazine for girls in 1960s Poland
117
Who was Filipinka read by?
Young working women and university students
118
When was Filipinka established?
1956
119
What shaped the content of Filipinka?
Correspondence between editors and readers
120
In the early 60s, how many copies of each edition of Filipinka sold out?
Over 250k
121
What is proof the Filipinka became a powerful symbol of young womanhood?
in 1959 a girl band formed with the same name and attracted substantial attention
122
Was Filipinka completely free to print what it wanted?
It was still subject to censorship
123
What did Filipinka present as the new Polish woman/girl? (5)
It carefully stressed moderation in the consumer behaviour of young women. Didn't question the traditional role of women as mothers/wives/household managers
Restrained in sexual and consumerist expressions Oriented towards intellectual goals
Loved jazz music
124
What number of Filipinka respondents did not want to get married, suggesting its readership was still traditional and conservative?
5/200
125
What traditional views were expressed in Filipnika's content?
That the ideal 1960s modern girl supported premarital chastity
That young women were responsible for their proper sexual behaviour and also young men's
That boys predatory and promiscuous behaviour was a product of male nature which should be tamed by women
126
What did a 1962 young female textile worker in Poland write in her autobiography?
That travelling was more important to her than getting married and starting a family
127
How did a 1962 Polish young female textile worker indicated her goals were socially unacceptable?
She said “they want me to stay at home but I have a different opinion after all we fought for equal rights!”
128
According to a survey in 1965, what percentage of men in West Germany thought it was 'not normal' for married women to work?
72%
129
According to a survey in 1965, what percentage of women in West Germany thought it was 'not normal' for married women to work?
68%
130
Why does Foder say the communist subject while on the surface genderless had distinctly masculine features women could not satisfy in Hungary?
Because of their reproductive duties, which were left unchallenged by the state socialist policy makers, meaning their enforced participation in work and politics could only be segregated and inferior
131
Why did Rakosi say in 1952 that women had a better chance of developing a true communist consciousness than men?
Because of their experience of double oppression, not just on the basis of class but also on gender
132
How did Hungary source the large number of workers needed for forced extensive industrialisation project?
There was a vast campaign targeting the inclusion of women in the paid labour force and in educational institutions
133
By when were practically all women of working age engaged in full-time wage labour, and the proportion of women at almost every level of the educational system reach that of men in Hungary?
the middle of the 1970s
134
How did Hungary attempt to lessen the domestic and reproductive responsibilities of women?
Free nursery and child care centres, paid leave time for mothers of sick children, subsidised meals and laundry services, generous maternity leave policies
135
How did propaganda reinforce the idea that the 'new socialist person' was a man?
Ubiquitous poster-art placed the muscular male worker at the centre, with women in supporting roles
136
What did members of Hungary's Politburo assert about women's reproductive responsibilities?
That they helped them back from the intense political activity expected of the ideal communist
137
Did any communist party officials question the nuclear family as the form of domestic life under socialism?
No
138
What was the shift in socialist ideology in the East in the 1950s?
Propaganda stopped inciting that women could work in 'male' occupations and highlighted women's domestic roles and the significance of the family for raising children
139
What did Polish working-class men call for a return to in letters to the press after the workers' rebellion of 1956?
A "family wage" for men
140
In most communist states, what did women's political participation peak at in the 1960s?
Between 20 and 30 %
141
Who was an exception to the trend of the underrepresentation of women in the higher echelons of Government administration in communist states?
Hilde Benjamin, minister of justice in EG 1953-1967
142
What became feminised notably under the tenure of Hilde Benjamin?
The administration of justice including many judgeships
143
What ministries did the few women who did become state ministers in communist countries serve in?
Relatively minor ministries such as minister of culture or education or consumer affairs
144
Initially, when they were more autonomous, what were communist women's leagues eager to represent?
The interests of women, especially women workers
145
When women's league were brought into line, what did they take up the task of doing, once relegated to preaching the party line?
The task of convincing housewives to join the workforce
146
What happened to women in Poland who took jobs as miners in the 1950s?
They faced hostility from both male miners and their wives
147
What industries were women overrepresented in in the 1960s as communist economies expanded their service sector?
Public health and social welfare, education, government administration, credit and insurance, retail trade and sales, restaurants and catering
148
When did girls surpass boys in secondary education in the GDR and Czechoslovakia?
In the 1960s
149
What did the family law every communist state introduced do?
Eliminated the privileges of husbands in the division of property and family decision-making, and also legalised divorce
150
Where did opposition to reform surrounding family in communist countries emanate from disproportionately?
Rural areas, husbands and fathers, older esp. non-employed wives, and religious people
151
Where was support for major family law reforms stronger in communist countries?
In cities, among young people, and among employed people
152
How did publicists in the Eastern Bloc encourage fathers to develop closer relationships with their children?
in the 1960s, advice books, women's magazines, and the general press began to pressure men to help in the home
153
Initially when the divorce rate increased in communist countries who was filing the majority of cases?
Urban husbands
154
What did urban husbands filing for divorce lead women activists to do?
Join older wives in complaining that divorce reform harmed women, esp. since the courts reduced or eliminated alimony
155
When did divorce complainants in Eastern Europe switch to being majority women and what was the consequence?
In the 1960s as masses of women entered the workforce - and divorce rates shot up as a result
156
Which two countries divorce rates were among the top 5 in the world?
USSR and GDR
157
How did Poland buck the trends when it came to divorce in the 1960s?
It's divorce rate was lower and it was still driven by husbands
158
Typically, what were most wife-complainants in Eastern divorce cases?
Young and employed, most had school-aged or younger children
159
What were the most common grounds for divorce across Eastern Europe?
Incompatibility about how to run a home and raise children, infidelity esp. by the husband but on the rise among wives, and husbands' alcohol abuse
160
What did Gail Lapdius refer to as a "straddle strategy"?
Strategy by communist states which aimed to make it easier for women to combine reproduction and production by easing the double burden
161
Why did all Eastern European states criminalise abortion in the immediate postwar?
To replace wartime population losses
162
Which country was the only country not legalise abortion in the 1950s at a time of high birth rate of the Eastern Bloc?
GDR
163
Why were social scientists, church leaders, and politicians in West Germany critical of working wives and mothers "who neglected their domestic sphere"?
worried about the future of the socialisation function of the family
164
What did a 1964 survey of 800 young men and women Hamburg suggest about ideas about appropriate gender behaviour?
They were still very much the same
165
What did a 1964 survey of 800 young men and women Hamburg reveal about women's perceptions of appropriate gender roles?
women saw their own employment as secondary to marriage, whilst their partners were expected to be ambitious and success focussed at work
166
In reality, how many young women actually gave up work after the birth of their first child in West Germany?
Only 7/10, the other 30% could not afford this luxury
167
What supports the notion that women were more likely than men to go to teacher training establishments in West Germany?
In the Winter term of 1960/61 27.4% of all female students were registered at a non-uni teacher training school, compared to only 5.9% of male students
168
What did the study conducted by Polish communist youth weekly Walka Mldoych in 1967 show?
Almost all female respondents, regardless of social class or educational level, expressed a desire to own a car and a luxurious single-family house
169
What did the study conducted by Polish communist youth weekly Walka Mldoych in 1967 applaud?
Polish women's reported noncompliance with contemporary feminism which allegedly centred on sexual liberation, and their unwavering desire to get married and have a family
170
Why did East German family law have to be reformed in the 1950s to help women?
Disproportionate number of widowed, single, and divorced women so needed to give them more agency and equality with men
