Weimar Women Flashcards
What phrase was in common usage (about women) from before WW1?
Kinder, küche and Kirche - “Children, Kitchen, Church” ; role of women as homemakers and moral support in the family
What were the attitudes to women before WW1?
Attitudes towards women was summed up by the German Civil Code of 1900 - women could not vote and single women could study for profession (law) but could not take the exams to qualify and practise. Married women had no legal status at all and men had to do any legal business on their behalf - liberal men and women campaigned for equality but were dismissed as “socialist”
Women’s role during the war?
Originally seen as “Kinder, Kuche and Kirche” - but during the war, women took the place of men in factories/farm/every other sphere of life
1913 - Krupp armaments factory had no women employees
1918 - Krupp had over 28000
By end of war - 75% of women of working age were in work and the war meant 1.6 million men killed so the “surplus women” (without men) were now a significant part of the population - 420000 war widows
Weimar attitude towards women and their role in government?
LIBERAL IN THEORY BUT TRADITIONAL IN PRACTICE
On November 12th 1918 (before Weimar Constitution established), emergency government gave women the vote - which was unexpected as during civil code of 1900, women campaigned more for legal rights than the vote. All political parties taking part in the election wanted women’s votes and “campaigned” to educate women the issues - turnout of women at first election = 90% and women took seats in the reichstag and local government.
BETWEEN 1919 AND 1932 - 112 WOMEN ELECTED TO REICHSTAG
How were women represented in the Reichstag?
Women had equal rights in principle (article 109)
Marriage should be an equal union
Women should be able to enter the professions
Did women in the constitution actually change things?
THIS WAS WHAT SHOULD BE - it did not change the legal status of women under the civil code ; Reichstag was split with the SPD socialists thinking women should be equal and others thinking they should return to being wives and mothers ; Falling birth rate was a concern
1911 - 128/1000 women
1925 - 80/1000 women
1033 - 59/1000 women
Divorce rate was a concern too as it was originally 27/100000 inhabitants in 1913 but this rose and stayed high during Weimar period to 65/100000 by 1932 - it was also of concern that women associations were campaigning for free contraception and the right to abortion under certain circumstances like rape
Women and work before and after the war?
Weimar government policy was that women should give up jobs to returning soldier - post war census in 1925 shows that percentage of workforce that were female was almost back to pre war levels (36%) - BUT WORK ITSELF WAS EXPANDING WITH MORE ROLES THEREFORE ACTUAL NUMBER OF WORKING WOMEN ROSE
Women as domestic servants
Before the war (with rich Von Lingas family for example) many women worked as maids for middle class families, but after the war due to economic inflation, this rapidly decreased (families lost savings)
Women in farm work
Decreased from 14.5% (1907) during the war to 9.2% in 1925 - because of the agricultural depression and increased mechanisation during the war - agricultural depression down to big Landowners like Hindenburg who blocked reforms that did not work in their favour (1918 - Reich Settlement Law)
Women in white collar jobs
Whilw women were expected to give up jobs meant for men traditionally, there were also many more “white blouse” jobs after the war - clerical and shop work traditionally done by women - women in offices and public employment doubled from 1907 to 1925 (6.5% to 12.6%) ; they had the same level of jobs as men but were paid on average about 33% less
Attitudes of women working after the war? (Single vs married)
Idea of single women working was more acceptable than a married women working - single women working was seen more of a temporary activity until they were married when they were not expected to pursue a career ; this is why there was opposition to women entering the professions because professions required long term training and provided a career (NOT A LONG TERM THING AND NOT MEANT TO FOLLOW A CAREER)
Women in the professions?
It was possible for single women to go further in education and in the professions than before but the number of women in the professions was still very small by 1933 - only 36 female lawyers by then and the number of women working as notaries/lower levels of legal profession rose from 54 in 1925 to 251 in 1933. Number of female doctors also doubled over this 8 year period - BUT professional women faced a lot of hostility and discrimination from male colleagues. Married women had to face a lot of practical hurdles and opposition if they wanted to work - school day structured to end at lunch ; therefore they were forced to pay for childcare or work part time. In 1925 - 250000 women were doing poorly paid work from home because they could also look for their children ; this doubled by 1935
Attitude towards women in trade unions?
In industry trade unions were strong and male dominated - they opposed all women workers and equal pay and conditions for those women that did work ; especially hostile to “double earners” (married women who brought a second wage into the house) because they were fighting hard for men to be paid enough to support a family
Doppelverdiener?
Women who continued to work even though they were married - attitude was thorough across Germany and women were expected to give up their work and focus on marriage (only temporary) ; TRANSGRESSION OF SOCIAL NORMS
Example of a New Woman
Sylvia Von Harden - by Otto Dix
