Once WWI finally came to an end, German Democratic Republic’s goal was to create a high demand for labor due to the destruction caused by war. The society had to be rebuilt since it was buried under an extremely large debt to the Soviet Union. East Germany’s culture was heavily influenced by communism and particularly Stalinism. It not only intensified the economic and political competition against its West German counterparts, but it resulted in German Democratic Republic’s repressive nature to the point where German Democratic Republic citizens made many attempts to escape what was essentially a dictatorship. Yet, surprisingly the numbers of fertility rates in German Democratic Republic were higher than of West Germany before unification. Politically East Germany was controlled by the Soviet Union and West Germany was aided by the Democratic West and the United States, which meant that the two countries had to have developed separate governments that were influenced by different ideologies. The communist leaders of East Germany wanted to build a system that emphasized a sense of responsibility and obligation to the collective society and also a strong moral obedience to the socialist goals. Therefore, polices that were created to reinforce socialist beliefs also impacted the numbers of birth rates, regardless of marital status. As a result, the relationship between social, economical, political policies and the lives of women played a key role for either increasing or decreasing in fertility.
Unlike West Germany, the Communists were in desperate need of women in the labor force, which is why there was an unusual strong emphasis on the importance of women’s employment. There was a lot at stake, for instance, reparation for the S...
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...d Fertility in Eastern Germany,”
Journal of Marriage and Family (1997): 44.
Monika Maron, “Letzter Zugriff auf die Frau” [“Final Charge on Women”], in Monika Maron,
“Nach Maßgabe meiner Befreiungskraft: Artikel und Essays.” © S. Fischer Verlag
GmbH, Frankfurt am Main, 1993, pp. 91-93. Translated by Allison Brown.
Neues Deutschland, no. 227, September 28, 1950, pp. 1-3; reprinted in Dierk Hoffmann and
Michael Schwartz, eds., Geschichte der Sozialpolitik in Deutschland seit 1945. Bd. 8:
1949-1961: Deutsche Demokratische Republik. Im Zeichen des Aufbaus des Sozialismus
[History of Social Policy in Germany since 1945, Vol. 8: 1949-1961: German Democratic
Republic. Under the Sign of the Build Up of Socialism]. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2004, no.
8/42. Translated by Thomas Dunlap.
In 1943, most women worked as teachers, nurses, or done some sort of domestic labor. Their opportunities were nowhere near as vast as the men’s. This caused the women to feel left out or unequal. Women fought for more equal opportunities as well as equal treatment. This along with their sense of patriotism is what led them to work in these factories. They wanted to be viewed as equal counterparts and have the same opportunities as men during this time. Not as many opportunities were open to the women so they jumped at the chance to widen them when the idea of working in the factories came up. This also paired with their sense of patriotism, making their determination to work stronger. The women knew the men were off fighting for their freedom so this would give them a chance to contribute to the cause as well as help war production. This challenged the views of the workplace as well as the beliefs of where women belonged in the workplace. Numerous men...
“There was much more to women’s work during World War Two than make, do, and mend. Women built tanks, worked with rescue teams, and operated behind enemy lines” (Carol Harris). Have you ever thought that women could have such an important role during a war? In 1939 to 1945 for many women, World War II brought not only sacrifices, but also a new style of life including more jobs, opportunities and the development of new skills. They were considered as America’s “secret weapon” by the government. Women allowed getting over every challenge that was imposed by a devastating war. It is necessary to recognize that women during this period brought a legacy that produced major changes in social norms and work in America.
A Reversal of Fortunes? Women, work and change in East Germany. Rachel Alsop. Berghahn Books. 2000
The film titled, “The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter”, looks at the roles of women during and after World War II within the U.S. The film interviews five women who had experienced the World War II effects in the U.S, two who were Caucasian and three who were African American. These five women, who were among the millions of women recruited into skilled male-oriented jobs during World War II, shared insight into how women were treated, viewed and mainly controlled. Along with the interviews are clips from U.S. government propaganda films, news reports from the media, March of Time films, and newspaper stories, all depicting how women are to take "the men’s" places to keep up with industrial production, while reassured that their duties were fulfilling the patriotic and feminine role. After the war the government and media had changed their message as women were to resume the role of the housewife, maid and mother to stay out of the way of returning soldiers. Thus the patriotic and feminine role was nothing but a mystified tactic the government used to maintain the American economic structure during the world war period. It is the contention of this paper to explore how several groups of women were treated as mindless individuals that could be controlled and disposed of through the government arranging social institutions, media manipulation and propaganda, and assumptions behind women’s tendencies which forced “Rosie the Riveter” to become a male dominated concept.
After the end of World War II, the United States went through many changes. Most of the changes were for the better, but some had an adverse effect on certain population centers. Many programs, agencies and policies were created to transform American society and government.
American Society on the Change during the Post-World War Years. After World War II, Americans experienced a time of rapid social change. American soldiers were discharged and returned home from the battlefields, hoping to find work and to get on with their lives. Marriage rates increased dramatically after the war.
“German Women and the Revolution of 1848” is written by Stanley Zucker. The thesis of this article is: Women’s role in Germany, the Humania association with Kathinka Zitz as the leader was not publically an advocate to women being more than just housewives. But Zitz i...
Various socioeconomic classes of women were targeted by wartime propaganda mobilizing them to “do their part”. Customarily, single women of the lower and middle classes were recruited into the...
Bolsheviks entered the political world in 1917 with the ideas of deliberating women and making them equal to men as well as this idea of westernizing Russia. Based on the book, both ideas were closely associated. Women were seen as raw materials that can be used to transform. As a result, women who were already member of the Communists party were sent to the countryside to transform primitive women also known as babas and transformed them into Comrades, the free and knowledgeable women. These transformed women would then move to the city and work in factories and industrial workshop to westernize and industrialize Russia and that will symbolize women freedom and equality to men. Even though these women will have a much lower...
The American Yawp states, “And for all of the postwar celebration of Rosie the Riveter, after the war ended the men returned and most women voluntarily left the work force or lost their jobs” (3). The resemblance and/or uprising that the idea of women taking on jobs liken-to women of the Soviet Union. The Role of Women in the Soviet Union states,
In unit three of Nation of Nations, there were many social/cultural and political issues that affected the Jews in Germany and the Japanese in America. The social/cultural groups were roused due to the conflicts arising over ethnic backgrounds, race, and class differences. The Jews and Japanese faced discrimination in both countries whether they were born there or not. (Davidson, 2008)
In the World War I individual rights and civil liberty have died. The wartime controls had replaced the free enterprise, exchange controls and import-export regulations had replaced the free trade. The inflation had undermined the sanctity of property. The war had shrunk the rights of individuals and enhanced the power of the State.
During the time of 1940-1945 a big whole opened up in the industrial labor force because of the men enlisting. World War II was a hard time for the United States and knowing that it would be hard on their work force, they realized they needed the woman to do their part and help in any way they can. Whether it is in the armed forces or at home the women showed they could help out. In the United States armed forces about 350,000 women served at home and abroad. The woman’s work force in the United States increased from 27 percent to nearly 37percent, and by 1945 nearly one out of every four married woman worked outside the home. This paper will show the way the United States got the woman into these positions was through propaganda from
time you heard the siren go off you had to stop what you were doing
World War II and the Holocaust has changed our society in ways that have framed our future. It has framed our future by showing that there are people, like Adolf Hitler, that will murder innocent people that have done nothing to take in persecution. What has the society done since this catastrophe?