Like many young women in the German Democratic Republic of the GDR, Solveig Leo did not find it difficult to combine children and work. A mother of two, she ran a large state-owned farm in the northeastern village of Banzkow. The state took care of childcare for everyone.
Claudia Huth, mother of five, experienced a quite different everyday life in capitalist West Germany. She quit her job as a bank clerk when she became pregnant for the first time, and started life as a housewife in the village of Egelsbach in Hesse. House and children took all the time, while the husband worked as a chemist.
Leo and Huth filled typical female roles in the two very different political and economic systems that governed divided Germany in the decades after the collapse of the war.
Different life courses
When Germany now marks 35 years since the fall of the wall on November 9, 1989, with reunification on October 3, 1990, there are several exhibitions that show how women’s different life courses under communism and capitalism finally seem to be erased, even if differences still linger again.
– In the West, many women had to fight for a place in professional life and the right to have their own career. In the east, women usually had work, but it was something they had been assigned from higher up, says Clara Marz. She is the curator of an exhibition about women’s lives in a divided Germany.
The exhibition is held under the auspices of the Federal Foundation for Studies of the Communist Rule in Parts of Germany.
The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 and marked for 28 years where the dividing line was during the Cold War between the Americans and the Soviets. It was built in record time by the authorities in the GDR to protect the inhabitants from decay and ideological contamination from the West and to stop the flight of Germans who understood where it was headed.
Tourist destination
Today, only a few hundred meters of the 156.4 kilometer long wall around the capitalist enclave of West Berlin still stand, mainly as a tourist destination.
– All the heavy industry was in the west, here there was nothing. East Germany had to pay war reparations to the Soviet Union. Women had to work their way through the misery, says Leo. She is now 81 years old and remembers life in the almost hermetically sealed GDR.
She believes that women in the West were spoiled by the Marshall Plan, the US’s generous reconstruction plan that channeled billions of dollars into West Germany and other European countries after the war.
– Women in the West did not have to work to survive, Leo believes.
In capitalist West Germany, the economy got back on its feet so quickly after the total destruction during the Second World War that many began to use the term “economic miracle”. A unique period that brought prosperity and stability in less than ten years.
Impeded equality
The economic success indirectly hampered the women’s fight for equality. Most women in the West stayed at home. Society expected them to take care of the house and children while the man worked.
Religious beliefs pulled in the same direction with their values of sacrifice and care. In the atheist GDR, other values and social mechanisms prevailed.
Women who tried to break this pattern in the West were ostracized and referred to as irresponsible people who put their own career before children and family.
A new generation
Over three decades after reunification, a new generation of women is barely aware of how different their mothers’ and grandmothers’ lives were, governed by which part of Germany they lived in. For the vast majority, the combination of work and children today is a matter of course.
But there are still some differences that remain. In the former East, 74 per cent of women work, compared to 71.5 in the West. Childcare is still easier to access in the East than in the West. In 2018, 57 percent of children under the age of three were cared for in a nursery in Saxony in the former East, while the figure for North Rhine-Westphalia was only 27 percent.
In Hamburg and Bremen the proportion was 44 per cent.
In politics, equality is weaker in Germany than in several other countries. In the National Assembly in Berlin, 31.4 percent are women. The proportion for Belgium is 41 per cent, Denmark 43.6 per cent, Norway 45 per cent and Sweden 45.6 per cent.
#Berlin #Wall #Divide #Ruled #German #Womens #Lives
**Interview with Solveig Leo and Claudia Huth: Reflections on Women’s Lives in Divided Germany**
*Editor:* Today, we have the pleasure of speaking with two remarkable women from different sides of the former Berlin Wall: Solveig Leo from East Germany and Claudia Huth from West Germany. Both navigated the challenges of motherhood and work in two contrasting political and economic systems. Welcome, Solveig and Claudia.
**Solveig Leo:** Thank you for having us.
**Claudia Huth:** Yes, thank you!
*Editor:* Let’s start with you, Solveig. You managed to run a large state-owned farm while raising your two children in the GDR. Can you describe how the state-supported childcare system made this possible?
**Solveig Leo:** In the GDR, we had a comprehensive state system that looked after our children while we worked. Childcare was not just accessible; it was integrated into our lives. This support allowed me to focus on my work at the farm without worrying about finding someone to care for my children. It was a system designed to encourage women to participate in the workforce.
*Editor:* Claudia, you had a different experience in West Germany. Can you explain how societal expectations and the lack of support impacted your decision to stay home after your first pregnancy?
**Claudia Huth:** Absolutely. In West Germany, there was significant pressure on women to take on traditional roles as homemakers. When I became pregnant, I felt I had no choice but to leave my job as a bank clerk and embrace the role of a housewife. There wasn’t a robust childcare system like in the East, so balancing work and family became incredibly challenging. For many women, including myself, pursuing a career often felt secondary to raising children.
*Editor:* It’s clear that both of you had to navigate very different expectations. Solveig, you’ve mentioned that women in the West were somewhat “spoiled” by US initiatives like the Marshall Plan. Can you elaborate on that?
**Solveig Leo:** Yes, from my perspective, the Marshall Plan provided the West with significant resources that allowed for rapid economic recovery. Women there didn’t need to confront the same dire economic circumstances that East German women faced. In the East, we had to work through scarcity and come together to survive—our lives were dictated by necessity rather than choice in many ways.
*Editor:* Claudia, how do you feel about the portrayal of women’s roles in post-reunification Germany? Do you think the gap between East and West is closing?
**Claudia Huth:** While I believe there has been progress, I also think that remnants of those timeworn roles linger. The exhibition addressing women’s lives from both sides of the wall illustrates the differences, but it also shows how we are learning from each other and evolving. We still see women in both regions fighting for equal representation and opportunities, but there is definitely more dialogue now than in the past.
*Editor:* It’s intriguing to hear both of your perspectives. How do you feel as Germany commemorates the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall?
**Solveig Leo:** It’s a moment of reflection for many of us—especially for women whose lives were shaped by those divided times. The exhibits are an opportunity for younger generations to understand the challenges we faced.
**Claudia Huth:** I agree. It’s important to share these stories. It showcases our resilience and the evolution of women’s roles, emphasizing that while we’ve made strides, there’s still work to be done for true equality throughout Germany.
*Editor:* Thank you, Solveig and Claudia, for sharing your experiences and insights. It’s fascinating how the histories of women in divided Germany can inform discussions about gender roles today.
**Solveig Leo:** Thank you!
**Claudia Huth:** Thank you!
