Life in the GDR: Social Change, 1962-87 » The Changing Role of Women in the GDR
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section A, Investigation A5, Key topic 3
- Why the GDR wanted women in work, and how many were
- How childcare, maternity leave and training helped mothers
- Why women faced a 'double burden' and were rare at the top
- How to answer an 8-mark 'How far does Source A support Source B?' question
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Unlock This CourseWomen at work: equality in theory
The German Democratic Republic (GDR) was a one-party state run by the Socialist Unity Party (SED). Its leaders said that a socialist country must give women equal rights, and the state's laws said so from the start. But there was also a practical reason. The GDR was short of workers, because so many people had left for the West before the Berlin Wall went up in 1961. Women were a huge pool of labour, so the state wanted them in jobs.
Key terms:
- Equal rights: the legal idea that men and women should have the same chances in work, education and family life.
- Crèche: a state nursery for babies and toddlers, so that parents could go out to work.
- 'Baby year': a year of paid time off work for a mother after a birth, with her job kept for her.
- Double burden: doing a full-time job and also most of the housework and childcare.
- Politburo: the small group at the top of the SED that made the main decisions for the whole country.
High employment
By the 1980s around nine in ten women of working age were either in work or in training, and women made up almost half of the workforce. This was far higher than in West Germany, where many married women stayed at home. Women worked in factories, shops, farms, offices, schools and hospitals. Most women in the GDR expected to have a job all their working lives, and a wage of their own gave many of them real independence.
Work was also not only about money. The workplace gave women a social life, and the state said that taking part in work was part of building socialism.
Help for working mothers
To make it possible for mothers to work, the state offered support. The Family Code of 1965 said that equal rights decisively shaped family life and that bringing up children was a task for society as a whole.
🍼 Childcare
Crèches and kindergartens were built for children of working parents. They were cheap, and they looked after children all day while their mothers were at work.
👶 Maternity support
Pregnant women and new mothers got paid maternity leave. By the 1980s it ran from six weeks before the birth to 20 weeks after. The 'baby year' began in 1976 for mothers of a second child and reached first-time mothers in 1986.
💵 Extra time and rights
Mothers could take paid time off to look after a sick child, and had the right to go back to their old job afterwards. Many full-time working women with families also got one paid day a month for household jobs.
Honecker, who led the GDR from 1971, made these measures a priority, hoping to win loyalty by helping families. Many women valued them, and they made it easier to combine work and children.
Education and training
Girls went to the same free schools as boys, and many did very well. Women could also train for skilled jobs and study at university. For women who had left school without a qualification, or who already had children, there were courses they could take while still working. By the 1980s large numbers of women held skilled qualifications, and many worked as doctors, teachers and engineers.
The limits: the double burden and the top jobs
Equality was not complete. At home, most of the cooking, cleaning and childcare was still done by women, even when both partners worked full time. This was the double burden. Women often had very long days: a trip to the crèche, a shift at work, shopping in shops that had shortages, then housework. Men were not expected to do the same, and the paid household day was mainly for women.
Women were also rare in the top jobs. No woman was ever a full member of the Politburo, and men held almost all the senior posts in the Party, in government and in industry. Many women worked in lower-paid jobs and often earned less than men. In 1983, members of the Writers' Union even complained in a letter that women were missing from its presidium (its leading committee), which shows that the problem was known at the time.
So the GDR gave women more work and more support than many countries, but the leaders at the top were still men, and the state's policies did not change the roles that men and women played at home.
Common mistakes
- Saying women in the GDR were fully equal. They had equal rights in law and many more jobs, but they carried the double burden and few reached the top.
- Saying the policies were only about kindness. The state needed workers, which was a big reason for the support.
- Saying it was all bad for women. Many valued their jobs, their own wages and the childcare.
- Writing about pensions, health care or schooling in general. That is in Education and Welfare in the GDR.
Exam-style question
This is a Paper 2 Section A (b) question. It tests how well you compare two sources. Use only what the sources say. Write about agreement AND difference, and finish with a judgement on how far Source A supports Source B.
Source A
From the Family Code of the German Democratic Republic, 20 December 1965 (translated).
'The equal rights of men and women decisively determine the character of the family in socialist society. ... Raising children is also the task and concern of society as a whole. ... the socialist state guarantees that parents can exercise their rights and obligations in raising their children.'
Source B
From an account by Martina Daske, a 27-year-old engineer in a rolling mill, given in 1986 and printed in a book by the journalist Landolf Scherzer (translated).
'... nowadays we talk as though we young mothers, with our child allowance and our year of maternity leave, are already living in some kind of paradise—that's just half the truth. ... Even today you only have equal rights to the extent that you make full use of your legal options.'
Study Sources A and B. How far does Source A support the evidence of Source B about the position of women in the GDR? Explain your answer. [8 marks]
Model answer
Source A supports Source B in some ways. Both mention equal rights and help for mothers. Source A says 'equal rights of men and women decisively determine the character of the family', and Source B accepts that the legal right exists, saying women have 'equal rights to the extent that you make full use of your legal options'. Source A says 'the socialist state guarantees that parents can exercise their rights', and Source B mentions 'child allowance' and 'our year of maternity leave', which are examples of that support.
However, the sources differ about how well this works. Source A is confident and presents equality as something the state delivers. Source B is doubtful, saying life as a young mother is not 'some kind of paradise' and that this idea is 'just half the truth'. For Source B the woman has to push for her rights herself.
Overall, Source A supports Source B only partly. They agree that rights and help for mothers exist, but Source A suggests equality is already secured, while Source B shows that in practice it is not.
What lifts it to the top level: it cross-refers the sources with short quotations from both, covers agreement and difference, and ends with a judgement on how far A supports B.
Exam tip
Quote a few words from Source A and Source B in the same paragraph each time, so the examiner can see you are comparing, not just describing each source in turn. Do not add own knowledge, as this question only rewards what you can compare in the sources.
Recap
- The GDR wanted women in work for equality and to fill a labour shortage; by the 1980s around nine in ten women of working age worked or trained.
- Support included crèches, paid maternity leave, the 'baby year' and paid time off for mothers.
- Women could train and study, often alongside work.
- The double burden remained, and women were rare in top jobs; no woman was ever a full member of the Politburo.