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In this age of woman empowerment, the German woman has gained the stature and the respect that she had long been denied of. Whether it is the house or the corporate world, the German Woman has excelled in her own field.
Breaking the conventions of child bearing, going to the church and being constricted to the kitchen, the women in Germany have started exploring the world outside their homes. The German women gained further empowerment after gaining the right to vote in 1919 and emerging victorious in their fight for equal rights. Nurturing children and building the future of the nation lay on the shoulders of the German mother. Having sent their husbands and children to the war front, the women in Germany tended the wounded and the dead in the hospitals and the war camps. These women altogether were called the Trümmerfrauen or the 'women of the rubble'. Venturing out on a mission to resurrect a new country of their dreams, the women in Germany surpassed their limitations and the conventions set up by the society.
The position of women in West Germany was different from that of the women in the eastern part of the country. The equality laws were set up in West Germany in the year 1949, but it was in the year 1957, that the laws were implemented. Even after this, the convention of Germany women playing the role of a traditional mother, sister and wife seem to reflect the way the women were bypassed when the women were restricted from working outside their homes. The situation in East Germany , however, was different. The women gained credentials as mothers as well as a major part of the German working force. The number of women and girl students increased in schools, colleges and universities.
In the year 1950, new marriage laws were set up, which comprised of a major section concerning women laws. These clauses in the constitution dealt with issues that were never dealt with before. Working women were accommodated in family life, the German women gained the power and the freedom to take independent decisions on delicate issues like abortion, family planning and much more. With such advancements and achievements at hand, the women in West Germany grew to resent the conventions that crashed down upon their rights. The result of which was seen the in the year 1970, when mass movements were organized by Germany students and women for the empowerment of the same. After a series of such movements, the constitutional body found its first change in the amendments agreeing to women's equality and empowerment in 1977.
