Women and employment in East Germany: the legacy of GDR equality

Abstract

Twenty years have passed since German unification. Significant cultural differences persist between former East and West Germany, including eastern and western women's significantly differing orientations towards employment. This study offers a historical perspective on the continuing gender disparities among German women. Drawing on the narratives of eastern women who were interviewed between 1999 and 2002, the study focuses on their perspectives on gender and employment, and their employment experiences in the decade after unification. The women who were interviewed for this study were members of the Party of Democratic Socialism, a political party that was formed in 1989 and 1990 out of the ruins of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of the German Demographic Republic. The study suggests that their views regarding East German social policy and their commitment to waged employment are similar to views widely shared by women in eastern Germany ¹ . It is concluded that, in this particular regard, unified Germany today illustrates the continuing socio-cultural influence of a discredited Marxist–Leninist state and its policies in shaping cultural and gender relations.

Keywords:

• German Democratic Republic
• social policy
• gender
• employment

Notes

1. The term “eastern Germany” refers to the region within unified Germany that was a separate state, i.e. the German Democratic Republic, often referred to as East Germany. The two Germanies were reunified in 1990 and since then it common to refer to former West Germany as ‘westerm Germany’ and former East Germany as ‘eastern Germany’.

2. It was interesting to note that employees in the BRD or in Germany before the founding of the GDR are often described as ‘little’, an adjective that was never applied to describe workers in the GDR.