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EMERGING FROM THE RUBBLE: The crisis of the traditional family at the end of the Second World War

EMERGING FROM THE RUBBLE: The crisis of the traditional family at the end of the Second World War. Ratio of women to men aged 25-40 in 1950– 130:100 Of 15.4 million West German households in 1950, 1.7 million were women living alone, plus 2.1 million were led by women

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EMERGING FROM THE RUBBLE: The crisis of the traditional family at the end of the Second World War

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  1. EMERGING FROM THE RUBBLE:The crisis of the traditional family at the end of the Second World War • Ratio of women to men aged 25-40 in 1950– 130:100 • Of 15.4 million West German households in 1950, 1.7 million were women living alone, plus 2.1 million were led by women • 10% of all births were illegitimate in 1950 (down from a record 16.4% in 1946) • Divorces surged to a record 87,013 in 1948, and the percentage initiated by women soared.

  2. THE LEGAL STATUS OF WEST GERMAN WOMEN • 1949: Basic Law, Article 3: “Men and women shall have equal rights. The state shall promote the actual implementation of equal rights for women and men and take steps to eliminate disadvantages that now exist.” • 1953: the Supreme Court declares the family law of 1900 unconstitutional. • 1957: New Family Law declares that the will of the husband prevails in all disputes over child-rearing. • 1959: Supreme Court strikes down that provision. • 1974: Social-liberal Bundestag majority legalizes abortion in the first 3 months, but Supreme Court intervenes. • 1975: Compromise abortion law with medical conditions (while pornography is also legalized).

  3. The changing face of women’s labor, 1957-67

  4. Recruitment poster for the Catholic workers’ clubs, 1960:“THE ECONOMY NEEDS WOMEN.”“Women hold every third job.”Pius XI: “Women may not be burdened beyond the limits set by their age and strength.”

  5. The German Democratic Republic legalized free abortion on demand in 1972 and founded a network of day-care centers (Vetschau, 1970) Privately operated “children’s collective,” Frankfurt a.M., 1970

  6. WOMEN’S AVERAGE HOURLY EARNINGS ASA PERCENTAGE OF MEN’S Source: J. Robert Wegs, Europe since 1945 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1991), p. 174.

  7. “EMANCIPATE THE SOCIALIST DIGNITARIES FROM THEIR BOURGEOIS PRICKS!”(manifesto by feminists in the SDS, September 1968)

  8. The distribution of this leaflet at the SDS Congress

  9. “Capitalism hammers men and women, but women more!” (West Berlin, May Day, 1969)

  10. “We’ve had abortions!”Stern, 6 June 1971 (even Romy Schneider)

  11. “I Had an Abortion,”declaration signed by 374 celebrities, Stern, June 6, 1971 Every year about one million women in the Federal Republic have abortions. Hundreds die; tens of thousands are left sick and sterile because these operations are performed by laypeople. When performed by medical specialists, pregnancy termination is a routine procedure. Women with financial means can have safe abortions in Germany and abroad. Women without financial means are forced by Paragraph 218 onto the kitchen tables of quack doctors. It labels them criminals and threatens prison sentences of up to five years. And still, millions of women have abortions – under humiliating and life-threatening circumstances. I am one of them. – I had an abortion. I am opposed to Paragraph 218 and in favor of wanted children. We women do not want alms from the legislators, nor do we want reform in installments! We demand the unqualified repeal of Paragraph 218. We demand comprehensive sex education for everyone and free access to contraceptives! We demand the right to pregnancy termination that is covered by health insurance! • Source: “Appell: Ichhabeabgetrieben” [“Appeal: I Had an Abortion”] (1971), Stern, June 6, 1971; reprinted in Alice Schwarzer, So finges an! Die neueFrauenbewegung [So it Started! The New Women’s Movement]. Munich, 1981, p. 124. • Translation: Allison Brown

  12. “If Eve strikes, the economy will collapse”(Conference for Equality in the Workplace, 1972,sponsored by the Food Processing and Restaurant Workers Union)

  13. Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-80) and Simone de Beauvoir (1908-86), soon after they met in Paris in 1929

  14. The cast of Pablo Picasso’s surrealist play, “Desire Caught by the Tail” (Paris, March 1944), with Jacques Lacan, Sartre, Albert Camus, and Simone de Beauvoir

  15. Published in French 1949,in German 1951,in English (abridged) 1952,in English unabridged 2009 Published in 1959

  16. With Che Guevara in Cuba, 1960 Sartre visits Stammheim Prison in Stuttgart in 1974 to interview Andreas Baader

  17. Alice Schwarzer (1989) and the first issue of Emma (1977)

  18. Voter Participation by German Men (gray) andWomen (green) converged in 1972, and the SPD defeated the CDU among women under age 40

  19. “Prejudice: Women belong at home. Replace prejudice with partnership”(Committee for the International Year of the Woman, 1975)

  20. “The Supreme Court rejected legalized abortion by citing Article 1, Paragraph 1 of the Fundamental Law: The dignity of the person is inviolable”(West Berlin, 1975)

  21. “ESTABLISH ABORTION CLINICS HERE”(caravan to Holland organized by the Frankfurt Women’s Center on July 1, 1975)

  22. Helmut Kohl & the CDU appeal to the “New Woman” in 1976

  23. Kohl appointed Angela Merkel Family Minister and Environment Minister in the 1990s

  24. Emma: Magazine for Women, by Women Four editors pose with revolvers on the cover of December 1981, with the labels most often slapped on feminists: Frustrated Men haters Lesbians Castrators Frigid Man-women Libbers

  25. PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN IN THE BUNDESTAG DELEGATIONS SOURCE: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frauenanteil_im_ Deutschen_Bundestag_seit_1949

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