ABSTRACT

The Federal Republic of Germany lies in the heart of Europe, at the cross­ roads of East and West, North and South. Germany as a nation is a late­ comer; late with respect to its industrialization, late also with respect to the establishment of democracy. In comparison with England and France, Germany's industrialization was not only late, but also rapid, so that patriarchal structures of rank and authority were maintained longer (Dahrendorf, 1965). It took the military defeats of 1918 and 1945 to perma­ nently establish democratic structures. The Wall between the Socialist East and the Capitalist West Germany fell in 1989; after 40 years (1949-89) both parts of Germany were reunited. Until 1945 East and West Germany had a common past:

1870-1918: Imperial Germany; World War I. 1918: active and passive voting rights 'granted' to women. High unem­ ployment among academics. Women teachers and women academics admitted to professions only in limited numbers. 1919-32: Weimar Republic; first democracy; world economic crisis. Open discrimination against women; edict mandating dismissal of women whose husbands had jobs. 1933-45: National Socialist dictatorship; World War II. Fascist antifeminism; ideology of femininity, women reduced to birth machines (Mohr, 1987).