Contradictions of Women in the Labour Force
As noted women were expected to handle all of the domestic tasks within the home, such as cooking, cleaning and caring for the family in the 1850's as well as the 1950's. By completing these tasks women were doing their part in portraying the ideal nuclear family image. This post will specifically focus on the 1950's and explore how women were portrayed within the Nazi regime around this time.
The Nazi regime displayed
contradictions in Nazi gender policies, more specifically in the desired role
for women. Originally the desired role for women was to stay home and complete duties within the home however, later the Nazis decided they wanted the women in Germany to be submissive mothers as
well as active citizens. They wanted women to be the perfect and ideal mothers
while still benefiting their country by being active citizens. Women were
expected to attend the National Socialist Womanhood, which provided courses in
things such as cooking and child rearing. The Nazis however, did not realize that in reality these courses were causing women to spend more time away from their family rather then being the ideal mother that the Nazis wanted.
Originally the Nazi
regime wanted women to stay at home and fill the ideal and perfect homemaker
role, however, after the labour force shortage this expectation changed. After
1938 when the change in the labour policy was made women were starting to be
encouraged to work outside the home as well as inside the home. This created a
tension because now women had the pressure to work but also maintain the home
and care for the children as they had before. This also created a contradiction
because the Nazi party was strongly encouraging women to have a lot of kids to
benefit Germany but this became less realistic when the Nazi regime wanted
women to be working inside as well as outside of the home.
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