Bristol Hannover Council
Women in the GDR
** On Wednesday, March 18, BHC members joined BAGS and were treated to an impromptu and informative talk from BAGS chair Mark Bright-Allison on the subject of ‘Women in the GDR’.
Mark traced the development of thinking on the role of women in East German society to the works of the original socialist theorists like Marx and Engels who believed that the exploitation of women was inherent in the capitalist system and that the real emancipation of women would only come with socialism.
Thus the GDR constitution contained explicit statements about the equality of women and laws were passed to protect and promote the role of women in the family and in society as a whole. Some East German women did enjoy success in managerial and professional life and the system was designed to provide support for women in work with crèches for child care.
On the other hand, patriarchal attitudes persisted in the family and in society as a whole and women were under-represented in the upper reaches of power like the Politburo.
IAN TURNER
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