In the Federal Republic, politicians and experts from the Ministry of the Interior cannot think of anything better than pointing, somewhat dismayed, to women’s changing sense of sex roles, since the mother role is no longer the center of all [women’s] wishes, but is instead being pushed aside by professional plans. And now they are considering what to do about it.
Of course, the role of motherhood has to be valorized. Here come the parental leave allowances, housewife pensions, loans to start a family. Daycare is back in the picture. Part-time work should be promoted. That is a promise that can only come from someone who stubbornly and apparently naïvely ignores the labor market situation and the wishes of employers. And now help is finally being offered to assist women in overcoming their role conflicts – with increased propaganda. The federal government will once again distribute information, and this time the opposition probably won’t disparage the anticipated new edition of Tips for Women in the Household as party propaganda. The important thing is to help women who are on their own in the business world back onto the straight and narrow – destination: delivery room.
There was a “marriage loan” once before, “if the future wife gives up her employed position at the time of marriage at the latest.” People were already tricked by this one in June 1933 in an effort “to lower unemployment.”
Because women show solidarity with each other more and more in groups, they can more realistically appraise their situation. They can also seek their own ways, which can and should guarantee them a more satisfying lifestyle when compared with the sphere that society intended for them. The chances seem greater that women’s interests will be advanced through the women’s movement than by having women continue to wait patiently to see what the 479 men in the Bonn parliament will offer them as the ideal combination role between mother and working woman.
Source: Viola Roggenkamp, “Lysistrate geht um. Kein Pillenknick, sondern die Emanzipation der Frau lehrt die Gesellschaft das Fürchten” [“Lysistrata on the Move: The Birth Rate Is Not Dropping due to the Pill; It is Women’s Emancipation That Is Teaching Society Fear”], Die Zeit, April 22, 1977.
Translation: Allison Brown
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