Women under the FRG (4) Flashcards
How many women was there in 1948?
- Surplus women - 7.3M more than men.
- Similar to post-WW1, women enjoyed more freedom by not defining herself by her husband.
Divorce rates in the FRG
- Divorce rates rose sharply in the late 1940s, the highest in 1948 (80% higher than 1946).
- This infers more opportunities for women to seek their independence/leave unhappy marriages.
What was the result of loss of able bodied men after the war?
Women were forced to work at anything = worked in clearing the rubble and in the office.
Women’s post war status: Politics
- Women worked on many committees to organise a return to normal but Nazi indoctrination that politics weren’t for women was effective, worsening progress (fewer involved - even those who were prior to 1933).
- Only 10% of women by 1987 were representatives in the Budenstag, despite being the higher electorate.
Women’s post war status: Societal role
- Ideal woman was still wife and mother - restricts their role in society (Ministry of Family Affairs 1953 = provided them financial benefits).
- FRG’s first chancellor, Adenauer, made speeches about the importance of opening up job opportunities for women + making working conditions equal = dismissed by the Govt as it’s split in support - especially opposed by the traditional CDU party.
Women’s post war status: Rights legally (constitution)
- Article 3 of the Basic Law guaranteed ‘equality under the Law’ for all citizens.
- More theoretically equal than practically equal - civil code not revised until 1958.
- The 1977 Marriage and the Family Law was revived to give women’s rights on marriage = but theoretical.
- Abortion rights passed in 1974 but was removed - brought back in 1976.
The women’s liberation movements - who and when
They were active in the 1960s/70s and was popular with radicals, city-based university students.
What happened in 1967 in the women liberation movements?
- Some West Berlin students set a commune to live on equal terms = however, the women ended up doing all the cooking + cleaning and left after 6 months.
- In practice - still traditional about gender sterotypes.
What happened on January 1968 in the women liberation movements?
- Action Council for Women’s Liberation set up in West Berlin.
- Set up day-care centres, organising campaign with nursery school teachers to get the Govt to change how day-care centres + schools were run.
What happened on September 1968 in the women’s liberation movements
- Helke Sander of the Action Council spoke to the Socialist German Students Foundation (SDS) at the Frankfurt convention, describing their work.
- By 1969, the group split = ‘mother faction’ was shed as ‘not theoretical enough’ + not looking at women beyond the family. Still restricted women’s role.
What did the women’s protests focus on?
- Radical + feminist groups targeted Paragraph 218 + abortion rights.
- Journalist Alice Schwarzer had 30 photos of women on a magazine cover (Stern) titled ‘we’ve had abortions!’.
- Groups began setting up refuges for battered women, with magazines explaining women’s health (contraception).
- Large city-based lesbian movement evolved, focussing on West Berlin.
Women’s role and status by 1989 = compared w/ the DRG and the FRG.
Clear demarcation in thinking between mothers and working women
DRG:
- More equal status = more likely to work full time w/ a sufficient income.
- State creches provided daycare.
FRG:
- Married women still seen as nurturers = mothers had higher status, tax breaks + benefits to encourage stay-at-home mothers, for at least the first 3 years of the infant’s life.
- Only 50% of married women had a paid job (part-time and driven by school hours).
1982 survey on on women working
50% of men and 54% of women felt a ‘man’s career was more important than his wife’.
70% of men and women thought men should work and women should care for the home.
