Nazi policies towards women+family

• How Did Life For Women Change Under the Nazis? - Summary

  Before WW2, Nazi policy towards women focused on ensuring they stayed at home+cared for family.

  Women were expected to dress conservatively, keep themselves fit+healthy+marry a strong Aryan man. Part of this policy was directed towards increasing birth rate, which had fallen by the start of 1930s.

  With most sectors of society, the Nazis unified organisations under a figurehead. The leading female Nazi politician, Scholtz-Klink, was placed in charge of all policies related to women.
• How Did Life For Women Change Under the Nazis? - Summary

  Nazi Party developed laws relating to marriage+employment to varying degrees of success. Women who followed Nazi policy received financial incentives+a boost to their social status. Nazis also banned many women from pursuing careers, eg doctors +lawyers.

  It’s difficult to determine how effective policy was towards women in Nazi Germany. By 1939, many laws intending to keep women at home were reversed. WW2 required women workers to keep pace with the Allies’ industrial production.
• Nazi Views on Women

  • Nazis saw women as a fundamental part of the Third Reich:
  • Goebbels said:

  BLOCKQUOTE

  the mission of the woman is to be beautiful and bring children into the home

  Nazi expectations of women:

  Marriage

  • part of establishing a strong family. Women should marry ‘pure’ Aryan men

  Family

  • large families encouraged+women responsible for supporting+feeding family

  Employment

  • women stay at home, men earn money

  Appearance:

  • conservative

  Nazis believed a women’s life revolved around the three Ks
• Nazi Policies Towards Women

  • The Nazis wanted to:
  • Reverse the changes to women’s roles brought in by the Weimar Republic
  • Increase the birth rate
  • The First World War caused a decline in the male population
  • The birth rate had fallen to one million births per year by 1933
  • Gertrud Scholtz-Klink was appointed leader of the National Socialist Women's League and oversaw all policies related to women
• Nazies polices towards women- DFW

  • All women-related organisations had to join the German Women's Enterprise (DFW):
  • Organisations that failed to join were banned
  • The DFW enrolled members on courses about childcare, cooking and sewing
• Nazi Policies Towards Women- 1933 law

  1933 - The Law for the Encouragement of Marriage 

  • Women could qualify for loans of 1,000 marks (equivalent to eight months’ wages) if they:
  • Married
  • Quit their jobs or stay unemployed
  • Mothers who gave birth to four children did not have to pay the loan back
  •  Each child removed a quarter of the loan
• Nazi Policies Towards Women- 1935 programme

  1935 - The Lebensborn Programme 

  • Started by SS leader, Heinrich Himmler
  • Paired SS men with single women to create ‘genetically pure’ children
  • The programme only accepted women and men with a clear ‘Aryan’ ancestry 
  • The Nazis created special Lebensborn homes for women to rest after giving birth
• Nazi Policies Towards Women- 1938 Cross

  1938 - The Mother’s Cross 

  • Awards presented on Mother’s Day in Germany were available to women who had four or more children
  • Mothers with gold medals received a public salute from the Hitler Youth
  • Families with ten children had to name Hitler as the godfather of the tenth child 
• Nazi Policies Towards Women- 1938

  1938 - Divorce Laws 

  • Husbands could legally divorce their wives for:
  • Failing or refusing to have children
  • Having abortions 
• Women and Employment

  With the focus on women staying at home and caring for the family, the Nazis introduced laws to reduce the number of women at work

  
• How Effective Were Nazi Policies Towards Women?

  • Before WW2, Nazis achieved some success with their policies
  • number of marriages increased from 500,000 in 1932-750,000 by 1934
  • birth rate increased from 15 per 1000 in 1933 to 20 per 1000 in 1939
  • However, the build-up to+during WW2 impacted Nazi policies towards women
  • By 1937, Germany experienced a national shortage of workers
  • By 1939, women fulfilled factory jobs but women's employment rates didn’t increase to 1930 levels
  • Over 500,000 women worked in the Wehrmacht (germany’s armed forces) as nurses/other non-combat roles
• Success of Nazi policies towards women


  DFW

  Success

  • 1939: German Women‘s enterprise (DFW) had 6 mill members

  Failure

  • Many women disliked Scholz-Klink (leader)+felt organisation was demeaning

  Law for Encouragement of Marriage :

  Success

  • 1937: 700,000 couples received loans

  Failure

  • By 1937: Women with marriage loans were allowed to work

  Employment Ban

  Success

  • End of 1934: 360,000 women left jobs+embraced 3 Ks

  Failure

  • 2.4 mill women returned to work at start of WW2

  Successes:

  shows women complied with Nazi policies. Nazis achieved aim of restoring traditional family values