Nazi policies towards women Flashcards
What were Nazi views on women and the family?
Women should adopt the traditional roles of mother and housewife. Hitler, however, did not believe that women were somehow less important than men - he described their role as equally important.
1933: The Law for the Encouragement of Marriage.
1938: The Divorce Law.
The Mother’s Cross was used to incentivise women to have lots of children. Four was seen as the baseline number.
What were policies on marriage and family?
The Reich Women’s Leader from 1934 onwards was Getrud Klink. She set out to make German women “servants” of the State. She insisted all women’s organisations should join together as the German Women’s Enterprise and through the activities of the group, the Nazi message for women could be easily spread.
From 1935, the Lebensborn (fountain of life) programme encouraged women to have children with SS guards in order to create the most genetically pure children possible for worthy German families. Women would receive money and support in return.
What were policies on employment and appearance?
Women were expected to adopt a natural look and wear long skirts. A perfect hairstyle would be tied back hair or simple plaited hair. A woman should have endeavoured to stay strong so that hips would be strong enough to sustain lots of births. They were discouraged from dying their hair or even wearing make-up.
From 1936 onwards, women were allowed to join some professions. From the 1940s onwards, women were increasingly used in war work.
