Women+in+Nazi+Germany

**Women in Nazi Germany**
 * Women in Nazi Germany played an important role in the idea of the Volksgermeinschaft. They were to provide the foundations of the racially pure community that Hitler hoped to create.
 * Hitler said //"every child that a woman brings into the world is a battle, a battle waged for the existence of her people".//
 * Women and men were supposed to exist in separate spheres according to Nazi ideology. The Nazis said that these separate spheres had a biological basis.
 * Hitler said "the world of women is a smaller world. For her world is her husband, her family, her children, and her house".
 * The role of women was celebrated and held up as important, however it is difficult not to see women in Nazi Germany as inferior to men.
 * The entire focus of a females existence in Nazi Germany was supposed to be on domesticity and motherhood.
 * Girls were educated in domestic and child-rearing skills at school and in the Jungmadel and German Girls league
 * During the years of the Weimar Republic women had become more modern. They were given the vote and enjoyed more employment opportunities (especially in the professions).
 * The Nazis felt that 'modern woman' was a degenerate threat to racial purity and the idea of Volksgermeinschaft.
 * Wanted women to return to their traditional role.


 * Guidelines for Women **
 * Women in Nazi Germany were discouraged from wearing modern clothing (i.e trousers), told instead to imitate the peasant-style clothing of the past.
 * Make-up, permed or dyed hair and smoking were all frowned upon.
 * At school, girls were taught that their future role was one of motherhood and looking after their husband.
 * Women were banned from senior positions within the Nazi party and there were no Nazi female deputies in the Reichstag.


 * Money for Motherhood **
 * Women were encouraged to have as many children as possible.
 * Financial incentives were offered for prolific childbearing - grants, tax-free loans and tax relief.
 * Family allowance payments were increased.
 * The Nazis wanted to increase the birth-rate so:
 * anti-abortion laws were passed.
 * access to contraception and advice about contraception was limited.
 * women were given medals to reward them for having large families - these medals had to be saluted
 * the law for the promotion of marriage, june 1934 = married couples who were passed as 'genetically healthy' were eligible for a loan provided the women gave up her
 * Women's interests were represented by the Nazi Women's League. They used propaganda extensively to encourage omen to embrace the three Ks.
 * Many professional women lost their jobs and the number of female university students was restricted


 * Nazi policy on women - a success? **
 * Some German women were positive about the changes made as they enjoyed the increased status of motherhood and the domesticrole.[[image:article-0-01BD9F39000004B0-255_468x286.jpg]]
 * Nazi policy on women was incoherent and inconsistent - many women kept their jobs (especially teachers) and many women were employed (and became powerful) by the Nazis (Nazi Women's League etc)


 * The birth-rate did not increase as the Nazis had hoped - in fact after 1935 the number of births actually declined steadily.
 * Many women had to be re-employed to help with the preparations for war and with the war itself.
 * Divorce rate increased.
 * The cult of the family was unsuccessful as Nazi policy actually caused an increased tensions in many families. Many women were unhappy about their new roles (mother versus woman) etc