Eastern German Women. Self-realisation through employment
The three-part documentary “Ostfrauen” (East German Women, 2019) explores the self-perception of women from the German Democratic Republic (GDR) with regard to their gainful employment, the compatibility of family and career, and their participation in politics. The documentary intercuts archival footage with interviews of 18 East German women who talk about their lives, their work, the situation of women in society and their development after ‘die Wende’. They reflect on how they grew into a life of dual burden between family and employment and how this affected their self-image, but also their relationships with men. Both their search for self-realisation and their need to help shape work and society as well as their pronounced pragmatism helped them in the reorientation phase of the ‘Wende’ years and led to successful professional careers. Their idea of happiness is imbued with the need to take their lives into their own hands independently of their partners.
This new orientation of women in East Germany, which began in the 1960s, posed great challenges to men with more traditional ideas of the roles of women in the family and society. The fact that this did not take place without conflicts is shown, for example, by the high divorce rate in the GDR (Mühling & Schreyer, 2012). In contrast to women in ‘The West’, women in ‘The East’ benefited from laws that promoted their professional independence and also from legal regulations regarding childcare or abortion. As women were urgently needed in the world of work, the GDR promoted the image of a self-confident independent woman, while at the same time the influence of traditional gender roles, which in ‘The West’ were largely determined by the church, declined. However, the fact that real equality (as enshrined in the constitution since 1949) was also far from being achieved in East Germany was visible by the lower proportion of women in management positions, pay gaps between men and women and the fact that even in the late 1980s women were still mostly responsible for running the household and raising children (Würz, 2022).
Even today, equality between men and women is a long way off in the Federal Republic. Currently, only 27.2% of professorships are held by women (Federal Statistical Office, 2022), and only one in every 3rd manager in Germany is a woman (Federal Statistical Office, 2021). However, it is striking to note that of these women, ‘Ostfrauen’ form a majority and their share even exceeds that of East German men in some areas (WSI, 2020). This suggests that the emancipation of women in East Germany has contributed to the development of qualities needed to hold these positions. Although the differences between East and West German women have narrowed over the last 30 years, the impact of a different definition of roles can still be seen in today’s statistics: The wage gap between women and men is significantly larger in the West than in the East; labour force participation among women is still slightly higher in the East than in the West — however, these statistics do not distinguish between part-time and full-time work (WSI, 2020).
In our days it is not so easy to explain whether East German values and convictions actually had an influence on the current Zeitgeist in the Federal Republic, or whether socio-economic conditions rather led to more labour force participation of women in the West as well. What is certain is that most East German women, after they lost their jobs in East Germany and went to the West seeking gainful employment, took their demands for equal rights and participation with them. They learned to find their way under new circumstances and have increasingly been standing up for their values since then. Curiosity, impartiality and openness helped them, even if they were not always met with sympathy by West German women.
Since German reunification, many East German women have seen their rights, which had already become a matter of course, restricted, such as: ‘Babyjahr’ (having children without loosing one’s job) ‘Haushaltstag’*, pension credits earned through raising a family or the right to abortion without obligatory evaluation. Given that the Federal Republic is less committed to these rights, there remains a need for renewed solidarity among women, who obviously still have to struggle to gain their rights and their own self-image — in distinction to that of men. The documentary rightly asks in part 2: Do women have to adapt to men in order to be accepted by them? Do women need to be accepted by men? Especially for women in leading positions in politics, business and society, the self-image of men as well as their habitus must not be allowed to be the norm for professional success.
* Haushaltstag (household day) was a fully paid, non-working day on which a worker could take care of household chores and other family matters without having to take extra days off.
Antje Barabasch, is an educational scientist and professor at the Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Training (SFUVET) in Zollikofen. Her research includes learning cultures and innovation in Swiss vocational education and training
References
Hobler, D., Pfahl, S. & Zucco, A. (2020). 30 Jahre deutsche Einheit. Gleichstellung von Frauen und Männern auf den Arbeitsmärkten in West- und Ostdeutschland? Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut (WSI), Report 60.
Mühling, T. & Schreyer, J. (2012). Beziehungsverläufe in West- und Ostdeutschland – Stabilität und Übergänge. ifb Materialien 4–2012.
Nickel, H. M. & Kopplin, M. (2019). Ostfrauen — Mythos und Wirklichkeit. Wissenschaftliche Kommentierung der Daten des ALLBUS 2018. Im Rahmen des Projekts „Ostfrauen“
des Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg und des Mitteldeutschen Rundfunk, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
Statistischen Bundesamt (2021). Frauen in Führungspositionen.
Statistisches Bundesamt (2022). Frauenanteil in der Professorenschaft in Deutschland von 1999–2021.
Würz, M. (2022). Frauen im Sozialismus, in: Lebendiges Museum Online, Stiftung Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland.
Currently (March 2023) only part 2 and part 3 are accessible online.
Frauen in der DDR [Women in the GDR], German, 8mim44
Ostfrauen [Eastern German Women], (2/3), DE 2019, Lutz Pehnert, 44min
Ostfrauen [Eastern German Women], (3/3), DE 2019, Lutz Pehnert, 44min
Female workers in the GDR
© Bundesarchiv, Foto von Ulrich Häßler
Female office workers in the GDR
© Bundesarchiv
Eastern German Women. Self-realisation through employment
The three-part documentary “Ostfrauen” (East German Women, 2019) explores the self-perception of women from the German Democratic Republic (GDR) with regard to their gainful employment, the compatibility of family and career, and their participation in politics. The documentary intercuts archival footage with interviews of 18 East German women who talk about their lives, their work, the situation of women in society and their development after ‘die Wende’. They reflect on how they grew into a life of dual burden between family and employment and how this affected their self-image, but also their relationships with men. Both their search for self-realisation and their need to help shape work and society as well as their pronounced pragmatism helped them in the reorientation phase of the ‘Wende’ years and led to successful professional careers. Their idea of happiness is imbued with the need to take their lives into their own hands independently of their partners.
This new orientation of women in East Germany, which began in the 1960s, posed great challenges to men with more traditional ideas of the roles of women in the family and society. The fact that this did not take place without conflicts is shown, for example, by the high divorce rate in the GDR (Mühling & Schreyer, 2012). In contrast to women in ‘The West’, women in ‘The East’ benefited from laws that promoted their professional independence and also from legal regulations regarding childcare or abortion. As women were urgently needed in the world of work, the GDR promoted the image of a self-confident independent woman, while at the same time the influence of traditional gender roles, which in ‘The West’ were largely determined by the church, declined. However, the fact that real equality (as enshrined in the constitution since 1949) was also far from being achieved in East Germany was visible by the lower proportion of women in management positions, pay gaps between men and women and the fact that even in the late 1980s women were still mostly responsible for running the household and raising children (Würz, 2022).
Even today, equality between men and women is a long way off in the Federal Republic. Currently, only 27.2% of professorships are held by women (Federal Statistical Office, 2022), and only one in every 3rd manager in Germany is a woman (Federal Statistical Office, 2021). However, it is striking to note that of these women, ‘Ostfrauen’ form a majority and their share even exceeds that of East German men in some areas (WSI, 2020). This suggests that the emancipation of women in East Germany has contributed to the development of qualities needed to hold these positions. Although the differences between East and West German women have narrowed over the last 30 years, the impact of a different definition of roles can still be seen in today’s statistics: The wage gap between women and men is significantly larger in the West than in the East; labour force participation among women is still slightly higher in the East than in the West — however, these statistics do not distinguish between part-time and full-time work (WSI, 2020).
In our days it is not so easy to explain whether East German values and convictions actually had an influence on the current Zeitgeist in the Federal Republic, or whether socio-economic conditions rather led to more labour force participation of women in the West as well. What is certain is that most East German women, after they lost their jobs in East Germany and went to the West seeking gainful employment, took their demands for equal rights and participation with them. They learned to find their way under new circumstances and have increasingly been standing up for their values since then. Curiosity, impartiality and openness helped them, even if they were not always met with sympathy by West German women.
Since German reunification, many East German women have seen their rights, which had already become a matter of course, restricted, such as: ‘Babyjahr’ (having children without loosing one’s job) ‘Haushaltstag’*, pension credits earned through raising a family or the right to abortion without obligatory evaluation. Given that the Federal Republic is less committed to these rights, there remains a need for renewed solidarity among women, who obviously still have to struggle to gain their rights and their own self-image — in distinction to that of men. The documentary rightly asks in part 2: Do women have to adapt to men in order to be accepted by them? Do women need to be accepted by men? Especially for women in leading positions in politics, business and society, the self-image of men as well as their habitus must not be allowed to be the norm for professional success.
* Haushaltstag (household day) was a fully paid, non-working day on which a worker could take care of household chores and other family matters without having to take extra days off.
Antje Barabasch, is an educational scientist and professor at the Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Training (SFUVET) in Zollikofen. Her research includes learning cultures and innovation in Swiss vocational education and training
References
Hobler, D., Pfahl, S. & Zucco, A. (2020). 30 Jahre deutsche Einheit. Gleichstellung von Frauen und Männern auf den Arbeitsmärkten in West- und Ostdeutschland? Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliches Institut (WSI), Report 60.
Mühling, T. & Schreyer, J. (2012). Beziehungsverläufe in West- und Ostdeutschland – Stabilität und Übergänge. ifb Materialien 4–2012.
Nickel, H. M. & Kopplin, M. (2019). Ostfrauen — Mythos und Wirklichkeit. Wissenschaftliche Kommentierung der Daten des ALLBUS 2018. Im Rahmen des Projekts „Ostfrauen“
des Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg und des Mitteldeutschen Rundfunk, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
Statistischen Bundesamt (2021). Frauen in Führungspositionen.
Statistisches Bundesamt (2022). Frauenanteil in der Professorenschaft in Deutschland von 1999–2021.
Würz, M. (2022). Frauen im Sozialismus, in: Lebendiges Museum Online, Stiftung Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland.
Currently (March 2023) only part 2 and part 3 are accessible online.
Frauen in der DDR [Women in the GDR], German, 8mim44
Ostfrauen [Eastern German Women], (2/3), DE 2019, Lutz Pehnert, 44min
Ostfrauen [Eastern German Women], (3/3), DE 2019, Lutz Pehnert, 44min
Female workers in the GDR
© Bundesarchiv, Foto von Ulrich Häßler
Female office workers in the GDR
© Bundesarchiv
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