To what extent did Nazi policy result in a 'social revoltuion' in the lives of women?

Essay by weasleyswitchHigh School, 11th gradeB, August 2006

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The Nazi regime changed the lives of German's in many different ways. One of the most targeted groups within society were German women. However, it has long been debated whether a social revolution ever happened in German women's lives during the Nazi period, and if so, to what extent the Nazi regime revolutionised women's lives.

The first view that historians put across is that there was a complete revolution in the lives of German women during the Nazi period. This view can be supported by several different historical events and sources. Women's lives were totally changed by Nazi policies, for example the use of such offers as marriage loans, brought in with the Law for the Encouragement of Marriage. These loans offered 1,000 Reichsmarks to newly wed couple; about nine month's worth of wages. The loans could be paid off in children (two children would mean 50% of the loan was paid; four meant that 100% of the loan was paid.),

or money. These loans were responsible for the huge rise in the amount of women marrying, 800,000 couple took up the offer of the loan. However there were several conditions that had to be met. Before a loan was given, the woman involved in the marriage must not be working, showing that these loans affected the working force of women as well as the amount of women considering marriage.

The workforce of German women was perhaps where a revolution was most likely to be said to occur, as it was where the most change took place. In Weimar Germany it is estimated that there was 100,000 women teachers, 3,000 female doctors and roughly 13,000 female musicians. During the Nazi government, many of these women were sacked or moved to work in the areas of the economy that...