1.4 Aspects of Life - Weimar Republic Flashcards
Revision
What did the German Civil Code 1900 enforce?
women could not vote, married women had no legal status, could not qualify for examined professions
What phrase summed up a woman’s role?
Kinder, Kuche, Kirche
What was the situation like for women at the end of WW2?
75% were in work
surplus women as 1.6 million men were killed
When were women given the right to vote?
12 November 1918
What were the parties’ response to women being given the vote?
campaigned to ‘educate’ women to win their vote
What proportion of women voted in the first election?
90%
From 1919-32, how many women were elected to the Reichstag?
112
What did Article 109 of Basic Law mean for women?
equal rights ‘in principle’ eg. in marriage and working
BUT legal status under Civil Code remained
What party supported women’s rights?
SPD
How did the birth rate fall from 1911 to 1933?
128 to 59 births per 1000 women
How did the divorce rate rise from 1913 to 1932?
27 to 65 per 100,000 marriages
What happened to women’s jobs after the war?
returned to men - 1925 36% of workforce women, similar to 34% pre war
BUT as work was expanding the actual number of women working was rising
In office work, what was women’s pay like?
33% less than men
In 1933, how many women were lawyers and doctors?
36 qualified lawyers
almost 5000 doctors
What discrimination did women face in the workforce?
viewed as temporary until they got married - not encouraged to have a career
hostility from male colleagues
childcare and the school day meant they struggled to work full time
What were the New Women?
1920s cities - young, educated, unmarried women
wore revealing clothes, short hair, smoked, drank, freedom (sexual) like men
How were the New Women seen?
criticised by politicians and the media as being immoral
glorified in film - blamed for seducing women to this lifestyle
How did life go in reality for the New Women?
faced wage and sexual discrimination
eventually settled down and married
What did the Great Depression mean for women and work?
faced hostility as jobs scarce
women’s employment dropped less as cheaper to employ and worked part time
1932 - unemployment 46% men, 33% women