Party Politics, Citizen Activism and the Media: Negotiating Gender Roles in the GDR and FRG, 1968-1989

Abstract

This thesis project began as a case study assessment of two women’s magazines: from East Germany, Für Dich, and from West Germany, Emma. Archival research undertaken to support this examination indicated the significance of a range of political actors in establishing and reinforcing new gender role expectations, specifically for German women, in the 1970s and 80s. I demonstrate that it was not only or primarily the media or grassroots political movements that drove social change, as some historical analyses suggest, but that various strata of government were also significantly engaged in the process. This thesis addresses: political ideologies driving changes in East and West Germany, bi-lateral relations between women’s organizations from both states, the ratification by East and West German governments of the Charter for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and finally a case study examination of the two previously mentioned women’s magazines.