Women under Totlitarian Regimes

The totalitarian regimes that became powers in the early to mid twentieth century had enormous impacts on the world. One of the most apparent impacts was the change of the attitude towards women. In some countries, such as America, women gained many rights that they had never had before, but in the totalitarian regimes women lost their rights and their standard of living. Of all the totalitarian regimes, women under Nazi Germany experienced the biggest drop in their standards of living. Firstly, German women lost many of their rights that they had under the Weimar Constitution, and received no political representation. Once the Nazis gained control of the German Government they brought with them extremely traditional views of women, and this made it difficult for women to advance in social class. Moreover, the Nazis developed concentration camps solely for women who could not give birth to the so called "Aryan Race".

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Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Munich, Germa...

Mussolini (left) and Hitler sent their armies to N...

In addition, the attitudes of Fascist Italy and the Soviet Union towards women were not nearly as harsh as that of Nazi Germany. Women under the totalitarian regimes were treated unjustly even though they had a significant impact on their respective nations' economies.

The Nazis strongly believed that different sexes belonged in different lifestyles. Men were primarily believed to belong in the world of action and battle while women were bound to their homes. Under Hitler's totalitarian rule, there was no political representation of women whatsoever. In addition, The National Socialist movement which was formed by the minds of men had practically no place in its ranks for women. In fact, during the very first general meeting of the National Socialist Workers, a resolution was passed that stated: "a woman can never be accepted into the leadership of the party and into the governing committee." The Nazis enforced...