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Documents - Men, Women and Labor: West Germany
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1.   On the Occupational Situation of Women after 1945 (1949)
This statistical overview demonstrates that, after World War II, German women were not employed evenly in all sectors of the economy, but worked mostly in domestic services. In social occupations....
2.   The Role of Women from a Protestant and Catholic Perspective in the 1950s (1954/1958)
In the 1950s, both the Protestant and Catholic churches criticized the trend toward women’s participation in the workforce. They continued to see women in their traditional role as wife and mother.
3.   Renate Mayntz on What Motivates Women to Pursue a Career (1955)
Sociologist Renate Mayntz argued that women’s interest in gainful employment did not arise primarily from acute economic necessity; rather, in the case of married women, it arose from a desire for....
4.   "Worker Treaty Rome – Bonn Signed," Frankfurter Rundschau (December 21, 1955)
In the mid-1950s, the booming German economy was no longer able to meet its need for workers, despite the stream of refugees from East Germany and the growing number of women in the workforce. At....
5.   "Italian Workers to Germany," Der Tagesspiegel (December 21, 1955)
This newspaper article addressed the practical details of the German-Italian agreement on the recruitment of foreign workers (so-called “guest workers”) for the German labor market. The guarantee....
6.   Federal Minister Franz-Josef Wuermeling on the Indispensability of Mothers (Excerpt from a Speech on Mother’s Day, 1959)
The Christian-Democratic Federal Minister of Family Affairs, Franz-Josef Wuermeling, advocated a conservative-romantic conception of women and families, which saw “misfortune” in the dual burden....
7.   Press Statement by Maria Weber, Main Department "Women in the DGB," on the Working Woman and the Social Situation of the Family (August 30, 1960)
The DGB [Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund or Confederation of German Trade Unions] pointed to several reasons for the rising ratio of working women in West Germany: they included the strong need....
8.   "The Foreign Workers and Us," Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (June 3, 1961)
The author asks that the term “guest worker,” which was becoming more commonly used for foreign laborers, be taken seriously and that guest workers be treated courteously. In the workers’ countries....
9.   Structural Change in the Workforce (1950-1970)
Under the conditions of the “economic miracle,” the Federal Republic witnessed a profound change in its occupational structure during the first two decades of its existence. Among the most important....
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