Anna Kaminsky, in her interesting book about the women who lived in East Germany, writes that East Germany really had no choice about enrolling women into its full-time work-force. The number of killed and wounded men, sidelined by World War II, meant that the women had to take up the slack.

 

I have watched YouTubes of women in the East laboring in bucket brigades, attacking the mountains of war-rubble that resulted from prolonged bombing by British and American air-forces. Long lines of good-humored, tolerant women past full buckets one way, then returned the empty buckets to the front.

 

But when they had done their duty, cleared the rubble, harvested the crops, and repaved the streets, the women wanted to return home to marry and raise families. Instead, the government basically conscripted them to go back to school, learn a trade, and to start working full-time.
When the women balked, the government initiated one of its propaganda campaigns that derided such womend as "Schmarozerinnen," an unpleasant word for social parasite, or as women preferring a "Heimchen am Herd," little women who never leave the kitchen, to make them feel ridiculous.  
By the end of the 1950s, 56% of women worked full-time. By the end of the '60s, the number approached 80%, and by the end of the '80s, 90%.  No one at that time thought about the consequences, that the burden of work would limit every aspect of their lives, and limited their opportunity to socialize. Their work-burdens actually increased as the compulsory quality of life in East Germany drove many to seek a new life in the West, at least until the erection of the Berlin Wall.
When the Wall came down, followed by Reunification, the number of women working full-time declined markedly. Even in West Germany, where women also touted Feminism as a lifestyle, the women prefer part-time jobs.


Blog

March 31, 2023

How Long Do Republicans Wait?

Americans who vote Republican have to remember that, for people who work for the Republican Party, it's just a job. They may like their jobs. Mostly they prefer to keep their jobs. They may share the Republican sentiment for free-market principles and military readiness; but when someone like me comes along and suggests that Republicans petition for a nation of their own, they worry about things like job-redundancy and relocations more than they do about Democrat big-government and peacenik sell-out.


March 23, 2023

Release Grand Ole Prometheus!

Left-wing trash-talking of the GOP represents a concerted campaign that should concern its leaders. The scathing rhetoric suggests that the trash-talking will not end until the Left can make the GOP the permanent minority-party, and silence or discredit its associated media-organs. Older Americans familiar with the Nazi-smearing of the Jews should note the similarities in the left-wing method. Neither the Republicans nor freedom-loving people of any stripe should ignore the potential threat that these smear-tactics represent.


March 21, 2023

Republicans: a New Start

The Republican Party has a few tasks it needs to undertake. It needs to examine the philosophy it claims to represent and to take stock of its future, and stop thinking in terms of personal rivalries. We have more on the line than just choosing candidates and securing a victory in future elections. The GOP needs to regain a corporate sense-of-self. How can we move forward when we have deep doubts about the game, the rules, and not least the players?


Lloyd Bowers

loybow3@gmail.com


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