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A Skeptical Glance at a Female Plumber’s Apprentice (1952)

In 1950, there were 7.267 million working women in the Federal Republic of Germany; by 1960, this figure had risen to 9.747 million. However, since employment increased as a whole during this period, the percentage of women in the workforce rose only slightly from 35.6 to 37.1 percent. The number of women apprentices in the skilled trades also increased – from 84,916 in 1950 to 92,742 in 1960 – which meant that women accounted for a larger percentage of trainees. Nevertheless, the trades sector continued to be dominated by men, partly because, on average, only 2,100 female trainees went on to qualify each year as master craftswomen. Photo by Gerd Mingram (Germin).

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A Skeptical Glance at a Female Plumber’s Apprentice (1952)

© Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz / Germin