***Women, 1918-33

Question 1

When were women in Germany given the vote?

Answer 1

1918

Question 2

What was the first election turnout for women?

Answer 2

90%

Question 3

What did Article 109 of the constitution grant?

Answer 3

Equal rights for men and women in marriage and professional employment.

Question 4

What was the BDF?

Answer 4

A women’s group that believed women should play nurturing roles in society.

Question 5

Were there female extremists?

Answer 5

Yes there were female communists but communists still saw fighting as a man’s role.

Question 6

What did the SPD support?

Answer 6

Improving the maternity rights of women.

Question 7

How many women were elected to the Reichstag 1919-32?

Answer 7

112

Question 8

How did women’s legal status remain limited?

Answer 8

The legal status of women under the German Civil Code (1900) remained. This denied women legal autonomy.

Question 9

What remained illegal in Weimar Germany?

Answer 9

Abortion and contraception

Question 10

Why were opportunities for women in politics reduced after 1929?

Answer 10

Due to the dominance of right wing politicians in state governments.

Question 11

Why did women receive opposition from within the Reichstag?

Answer 11

A lot of politicians advocated for a return to traditional female roles (Kinder, Küche, Kirche) as they were concerned about the falling birth rate and rising divorce rates. As well as campaigns for contraception and rights to abortion.

Question 12

What happened with work and female employment during the Weimar Republic?

Answer 12

Work was expanding and female employment was rising.

Question 13

What kind of jobs were there more of during the WR?

Answer 13

White-blouse jobs (clerical and shop work)

Question 14

What was it possible for single women to do with regards to work?

Answer 14

For them to go further in their education and profession than before.

Question 15

How many female lawyers were there by 1933?

Answer 15

36

Question 16

How many women were there in lower legal professions in 1925 compared with 1933?

Answer 16

1925 - 54 women in lower legal professions
1933 - 251

Question 17

How many female doctors were there in 1925? How does this compare with 1933?

Answer 17

1925 = 2,500 female doctors
1932 = Almost double (5,000)

Question 18

What was the government policy after WW1?

Answer 18

That women should give up their jobs to retuning soldiers.

Question 19

On average, how much less were women paid than men for the same job?

Answer 19

33% less

Question 20

In what type of women was the idea of working more accepted?

Answer 20

More accepted for single women rather than married women. However, it was still seen as temporary until they got married.

Question 21

What did many women face in the workplace?

Answer 21

Hostility and discrimination

Question 22

How was the school day structured? How did this affect women working?

Answer 22

The school day was structured to end at lunch time so mothers had to work from home or part-time.

Question 23

In 1925, how many women were doing poorly paid work to be able to look after their children? How did this change by 1935?

Answer 23

250,000; by 1935 this had doubled.

Question 24

What percentage of women were in poorly paid, manual jobs?

Answer 24

50%

Question 25

What culture developed in the 1920s?

Answer 25

Racy city culture - Some women abandoned traditional female behaviours in response to this.

Question 26

What did the World League of Sexual Freedom campaign for?

Answer 26

• Sexual freedom
• Schools of love to teach men the scientific principles of the female orgasm
• Easy access to contraception

Question 27

What did a movement in the 1920s aim to end?

Answer 27

To end state licensed prostitution and use female instead of male social workers to deal with female sex workers.

Question 28

What was the Care Office created to do?

Answer 28

To provide help for women leaving prostitution.

Question 29

What did politicians and the media criticise?

Answer 29

The morality of “new women.”

Question 30

What was the KDK established to do?

Answer 30

To campaign against cultural decadence of the 1920s.

Question 31

What is an example of films being critical of the new woman?

Answer 31

Pandora’s Box (1929) showed women as morally decadent and sexual temptresses ruining their lives.

Question 32

What did women seem to exemplify for some people?

Answer 32

That society was in crisis.

Question 33

Why were women less affected by unemployment during the Great Depression?

Answer 33

They were cheaper to employ.

Question 34

What percentage of men and of women were unemployed in 1932?

Answer 34

46% of men were unemployed whereas only 33% of women were unemployed.

Question 35

What increased as a result of the Depression?

Answer 35

Hostility towards working women.

Question 36

What did Brüning pass on 30 May 1932?

Answer 36

A decree allowing for the dismissal of married women so that men could take these jobs instead.

Question 37

How many female teachers and musicians were there by 1932?

Answer 37

100,000 female teachers and 13,000 musicians

Question 38

What percentage of the workforce was made up of women by 1925?

Answer 38

36% - in areas such as industry, agricultural and clerical work.