HITLER FORCES ON WOMEN ANOTHER THEORY OF LIFE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20625, 28 May 1935, Page 8

HITLER FORCES ON WOMEN ANOTHER THEORY OF LIFE.

To-day’s Special Article

Individual Sacrificed for the State : Babies Pay off the Marriage Loan.

By

Ruth Woodsmall

The following is a summary of an analysis of the practical results of the ideals and doctrines which have been proclaimed by the Hitler regime in reference to German women. Miss Ruth Woodsmall, who spent some time in Germany gathering her facts, held the Rockefeller Social Science Fellowship for a year to study Moslem women in the Near and Middle East and in India, and was a member of two Commissions of the Layman’s Foreign Missions Inquiry. She is a member of the national staff of the Y.W.C.A. and the author of “ Eastern Women To-day and To-morrow.”

"yyiTH THE POLITICAL EQUALITY gained in Germany shortly after the war came very full and free participation by women in the political councils of the State; so much so that perhaps German women went further in the decade up to 1933 than women in any other State, reaching as high a number as 35 in the Reichstag. And then in 1933 a new ideology came, asserting that the realm for women was in the home, that women should turn their thought inward and not outward; with this doctrine came the spread of a whole new theory of life for German women. “ In the economic field the great unemployment situation in Germany gave a very natural motivation for the withdrawal of German women from occupations which might be filled by men. In June, 1933, the regulation was promulgated setting up restrictions against subsidiary employment for women; that is, a daughter or a wife whose father or husband was employed was no longer allowed to follow a wage-earning pursuit. For instance, in Hamburg, 100 women teachers were released almost immediately. This order fell most heavily upon married women, especially women in any type of civil service, which was interpreted rather widely as meaning not merely State service but service of all kinds, educational service under the State, workers in State banks, and in the great religious organisations connected with the State. From about June, 1933, there was accordingly a very rapid withdrawal of women from all kinds of employment.” Exceptions Necessary. A period of reaction then set in, marked by opposition, protest and violations which made it necessary to make exceptions. People began to discover that men stenographers were not so effective as women; elderly daughters were allowed to continue in their occupations; individual cases were investigated. But the feeling in Germany to-day is firmly established against subsidiary employment ; that is, the double wage-earners in the family, and by and large it is against the idea of married women in lucrative employment. So successfully has the replacement of women by men been carried out that during 1933 there has been a decrease in the employment of women of about 50.000. The increase of men in employment, as the result of many factors, numbers 453,000 As for the professional field, although some women doctors and lawyers still hold their professions, there is an idea prevalent that a woman doctor should work only on the care of women and children and that surgery should not be considered a field for women. In the law it is held that women should confine themselves to Juvenile Courts and to cases where women and children are involved. Withdrawn from Politics. In the field of political activity women have been entirely withdrawn. In 1932 there weVe 35 women in the Reichstag: in 1933 there were none. Here is an interesting explanation of this fact by a woman director of the Nazi women’s organisation, a great National Socialist Federation, which has taken over all the organisations of women in Germany. “ In answer to my question as to the loss of political activity of women by being withdrawn from the Reichstag she explained that the Reichstag no longer has significance either for men or women because it is not according to the ideal of a National Socialist State. Hence, so she felt, women have not in reality suffered any loss in the exclusion from the Reichstag. The fact is, this

woman explained, that women still have power in the legislative field because women are called upon to give advice in reference to social legislative reforms on all questions which have to do with their particular field of interest, for instance, morals, child welfare and maternal care. This interpretation is interesting because it shows the idealisation of the theory.” As to political rights women still have the suffrage in Germany, and in fact are admonished to take advantage of it. “An illustration of this is a clipping which I saw in a German newspaper. It told about a woman vendor who last November failed to vote although twice admonished to do so. She was deprived of her stall and forced to wear a placard with her name and address on it and these words, * I have not voted because the safety and peace of Germany do not interest me.’ In social service there has been an increase of women, especially in the fields of child welfare and maternal care. I was told, however, that there was a decrease of women at the top. and that executive positions in social work in Germany were very, very In the lines of civil service there are decreasing opportunities for women. No woman can enter civil service until she is 35, which, of course, would militate against her by postponing her career and putting her in unfair competition with men who can enter at 21. Domestic Training. Under the Nazi regime certain fields have been especially promoted. In 1933 at Easter time over one million girls left high school, facing unemployment. A joint effort was made by the Youth Movement, by the women’s organisation, by the unemployment exchanges, unemployment insurance organisations and by the Arbeitsfront, the Labour organisation, to persuade German housewives to take in girls for domestic service. Those girls who might be led into household employment were recruited through vocational guidance bureaus. After a six-week trial between the girl and the woman the year of apprenticeship begins. The housewife assumes responsibility for sickness insurance. The girl receives no wages. At the end of the terrrj she receives a certificate, and then an attempt is made by the employment exchange and the vocational guidance organisations to put the girl into some position. Marriage Loans. The marriage loan system was instituted m 1933 primarily as a means of solving the employment problem, but undoubtedly with a longer range view. One thousand marks is lent to the girl or woman in employment if she will leave her employment to marry, turning the job over to a man. That is, of course, on the agreement that she will not seek re-employment. The thousand marks is a voucher to be used for the payment of furniture and household equipment for the new home. This loan may be progressively reduced wdth each child—2s per cent with each child—so that the wellstorked family with four children will eventually have liquidated the whole loan! Only the physically fit are eligible for this loan. The unmarried are taxed to cover this loan: the Reichstag expended 150 million marks for this in 1933. The marriage loan is still in process and will be through 1934. Incidentally, it has given employment to a good many people in the domestic utensil and furniture factories. 100,000 people having been re-employed due to the thousand • marks loan.