Did Communist rule in the German Democratic Republic live up to its rhetoric regarding women’s emancipation?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36399/GroundingsUG.4.254Keywords:
German Democratic Republic, GDR, Communism, Equality, Women's Equality, Gender Roles, Female Emancipation, Public Sphere, Private SphereAbstract
Communism in the German Democratic Republic offers an interesting assessment of the reality/perception paradigm. Despite attempts to convey ideas of absolute equality between the sexes, as perceived by the legal and theoretical frameworks created by the state, the GDR remained unable to overcome realities of economics, the ‘double burden’ and entrenched gender roles within East German society to achieve their aims. By examining each of these aspects in turn, this article will illustrate that whilst some improvements regarding female emancipation were made in the public sphere, little progress was made within the private, and as such the reality remained at odds with the idealised perception of communist equality.
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Copyright (c) 2011 Felicity Cooke
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