FRG aspects Of Life Flashcards
What did the defeat of Germany in ww2 mean for women?
Once again, there were many ‘surplus women’. In 1948 there were 7.3 million more women than men
What was zero hour and why did Germany want it?
People were brought face to face with the evidence of nazi atrocities and people wanted the start of the FRG to be ‘zero hour’ (a non nazi Germany, a clean slate)
How did divorce rate change over the 1940s?
It rose sharply in the late 1940s as couples realised their marriages could not work. The highest divorce rate was 1948. It was 80% higher than 1946
What did the military governments in each occupied zone try and do?
They tried to help rebuild the economy, as well as rebuild areas suppressed by the Nazis, such as the idea that individuals and individual families mattered (Aryan’s). However the economy was more important at the time and they had to use women to work as lots of able bodied men died in the war. They worked at anything and everything, clearing rubble to building and office work
What did women do immediately after the war?
They set up many committees to organise a return to normal
After the war did women get involved in politics?
No - fewer women became actively involved in politics. Those who did were politically active before 1933
What was still the idea for women for many people and political parties?
The ideal women was to be a wife and a mother still. This was underlined by the setting up of a ministry for family affairs in 1953, which provided wives and mothers with financial benefits. The government also did little to make work attractive for women
The FRG’s first chancellor, Adenauer, made speeches about the importance of making jobs more available to women and making working conditions more equal but this was never implemented by the government.
How was the Bundestag split on the issue of equality?
Just like the reichstag, it was split between supporters of equal rights, such as the SPD and others, such as the CDU who did not want to encourage woman to go to work by providing equal pay or working conditions
What did article 3 of the basic law state?
It guaranteed unqualified ‘equality under the law’ for all citizens - although many reichstag delegates had wanted to add a version of Weimar’s ‘in principle’ phrase to make it more theoretical.
Now, women and minorities that had once previously faced discrimination, were theoretically equal
Did the basic law guarantee actual equality?
As the law did guarantee equality, it was not enough to make certain or actual equality. The civil code still remained and the civil code was only revised until 1958 in order to give women legal freedom. Before this, married women still needed their husbands permission to go to work, and the husband had full control of the womens property on marriage
When were women given equal rights in marriage?
It wasn’t until 1977, that the marriage and family law was revised to give women equal rights in marriage. It also overturned the civil code law that said women could only work if it did not interfere with the role as a wife and mother, which was in force since 1900 and was a significant expressions of kinder Küche, kirche thinking
What did a die wet in 1982 tell us about attitudes towards women IN Work.
50% of men and 54% of women said that a man’s career was more important than his wife’s. Additionally, 70% of men and 68% of women thought women should stop work on marriage. 70% of both thought that men should work and women should care for home
what was the role and status of women by 1989
There was still demarcation thinking between mothers and working women, which was highlighted when the two Germanys reunited. Women in the DRG were more equal and would be far more likely to work full time. They had state crèches that provided child care to allow them to do so. However it was needed to provide enough income. Compared to the FRG where married women still had family roles. This gave motherhood in the FRG a higher status than in many other countries and families had tax breaks and benefits to encourage mothers to stay at home for at least the first 3 years of the infants life. Around 50% of married women with a child under 15 had a paid job, half of which were part time
When were womens liberation movements more active?
In the 1960s and 70s, the liberation movements were more active in Germany as well as other countries. They were most popular with students and radicals and were mainly city based
When was the action council for womens liberation set up and what did it do?
It was set up in West Berlin in January 1968 and was the first feminist organisation that began with practical application such as setting up daycare centres and organising a campaign with nursery school teachers to get the government to change the way daycare and schools were run
Was this action council for omens liberation successful?
In sept 1968, Helke Sander of the group, spoke in Frankfurt with the socialist German students federation describing what they had done. However in 1969, the group split and the ‘mother faction’ had been shed as not being theoretical enough and not looking at women outside the family
