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Too Many (Working) Women: Economic Reconstruction and Constructing Gender Roles in Western Germany, 1946-1957

Adams, Stephanie P.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1212782224

Abstract Details

2008, Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, History (Arts and Sciences).
This thesis addresses the success of policymakers in the U.S. occupied zone of western Germany, 1946-1957, in encouraging western German working women to see themselves primarily as wives and mothers rather than as members of the workforce. Western German policymakers believed that the success of reconstruction depended on consumption and sought for ways to integrate working women's salaries into the economy. In order to remove the vestiges of National Socialism from German society and to create a social model opposed to Communism, western German leaders prioritized the traditional family unit and ignored the realities of a changed demographic that necessitated female employment. By synthesizing written sources with media images, this study concludes that western German media succeeded in inundating females with images of the "complete" family. At the same time, however, women did not passively react to family policy and attendant media, but rather actively chose and internalized their vocations as working women or homemakers.
Benita Blessing, PhD (Advisor)
James Mosher, PhD (Committee Member)
Paul Milazzo, PhD (Committee Member)
104 p.
European History
Fraternization; Women of the Hour; the Miracle Years; postwar Western Germany; U.S. Occupation policy; economic reconstruction; rubble women; traditional family; nuclear family; CDU; SPD; Bundestag; money-for-children

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Adams, S. P. (2008). Too Many (Working) Women: Economic Reconstruction and Constructing Gender Roles in Western Germany, 1946-1957 [Master's thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1212782224

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Adams, Stephanie. Too Many (Working) Women: Economic Reconstruction and Constructing Gender Roles in Western Germany, 1946-1957. 2008. Ohio University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1212782224.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Adams, Stephanie. "Too Many (Working) Women: Economic Reconstruction and Constructing Gender Roles in Western Germany, 1946-1957." Master's thesis, Ohio University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1212782224

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1212782224
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© 2008, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.