Gender Roles in the 20th Century

Roles of Women and Men in German 20^th Century Society

            I found the role of German men and women in the 20^th century are basically the same as that of men and women in the United States. Women are expected to be homemakers, and men are expected to work, provide for the family, and go to war when needed. Like the United States, women made significant gains (right to vote, etc… ) throughout the 20^th century, and continue to make gains today, but are yet to have same and equal roles.

For centuries, a woman's role in German society was summed up by the three words: Kinder, Küche, Kirche (children, kitchen, church). Throughout the twentieth century, however, women have gradually won victories in their quest for equal rights. For instance, in 1919 women gained the right to vote. Changes also came about during WWII. During the war, women stepped up and took over jobs of men when they went to war and fought. In West Germany, the Basic Law of 1949 declared that men and women were equal, but it was not until 1957 that the civil code was amended to conform to this statement. In the east, however, women remained in the workforce. The Soviet-style system mandated women's participation in the economy, and the government implemented this key objective by opening up educational and vocational opportunities to women. As early as 1950, marriage and family laws also had been rewritten to accommodate working mothers. Abortion was legalized and funded by the state in the first trimester of pregnancy.

After several decades of conforming to traditional social patterns, West German women began to demand changes. Following patterns in Europe and the United States, emancipation in the Federal Republic originated "from below," with women themselves. In the 1970s, the women's movement gathered momentum, having emerged as an outgrowth of student protests in the late 1960s rallying around the causes of equal rights (including the right to abortion, which was somewhat restricted in West Germany), the movement succeeded in having legislation passed in 1977 that granted a woman equal rights in marriage. A woman could work outside the home and file for divorce without her husband's permission. Divorce was permitted when the marriage partners could no longer be reconciled.Women also made gains in education in both East and West Germany. By the mid-1960s, East German women accounted for about half of all secondary school graduates who had prepared to study at institutes of higher learning in the GDR; by the 1975-76 academic year, they were in the majority (53 percent). To assist women in completing their studies, an extensive support system, including supplementary payments and child care, was provided. Despite these gains, gender discrimination is still evident in Germany. Women are rarely awarded top tier jobs, and hold only 9.2% of jobs in Germany's upper and middle management positions. There have been more improvements in the 21^st century, but the gender inequality is still basically the same.