Nazi Policies Towards Women and the Family (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE History)

How Did Life For Women Change Under the Nazis? - Summary

Before the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Nazi policy towards women was focused on ensuring they stayed at home and cared for the family.

Women were expected to dress conservatively, keep themselves fit and healthy and marry a strong Aryan man. Part of this policy was directed towards increasing the birth rate, which had fallen significantly by the start of the 1930s.

With most sectors of society, the Nazis unified organisations under a figurehead. The leading female Nazi politician, Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, was placed in charge of all policies related to women.

The Nazi Party developed laws relating to marriage and employment to varying degrees of success. Women who followed Nazi policy received financial incentives and a boost to their social status. The Nazis also banned many women from pursuing careers, such as doctors and lawyers.

It is difficult to determine how effective policy was towards women in Nazi Germany. By 1939, many laws intending to keep women at home had been reversed. The Second World War required women workers to keep pace with the Allies’ industrial production.

Nazi Views on Women

• The Nazis saw women as a fundamental part of the Third Reich:

  • Goebbels said:

• Nazi Germany had these expectations about women:

• The Nazis believed that a woman’s life revolved around the ‘three Ks’:

  • Kinder (children)

  • Kirche (church)

  • Küche (cooking)

Nazi Policies Towards Women

• The Nazis wanted to:

  • Reverse the changes to women’s roles brought in by the Weimar Republic

  • Increase the birth rate

    • The First World War caused a decline in the male population

    • The birth rate had fallen to one million births per year by 1933

• Gertrud Scholtz-Klink was appointed leader of the National Socialist Women's League and oversaw all policies related to women

The German Women’s Enterprise (DFW) 

• All women-related organisations had to join the German Women's Enterprise (DFW):

  • Organisations that failed to join were banned

  • The DFW enrolled members on courses about childcare, cooking and sewing

1933 - The Law for the Encouragement of Marriage 

• Women could qualify for loans of 1,000 marks (equivalent to eight months’ wages) if they:

  • Married

  • Quit their jobs or stay unemployed

• Mothers who gave birth to four children did not have to pay the loan back

  •  Each child removed a quarter of the loan

1935 - The Lebensborn Programme 

• Started by SS leader, Heinrich Himmler

• Paired SS men with single women to create ‘genetically pure’ children

  • The programme only accepted women and men with a clear ‘Aryan’ ancestry 

• The Nazis created special Lebensborn homes for women to rest after giving birth

1938 - Divorce Laws 

• Husbands could legally divorce their wives for:

  • Failing or refusing to have children

  • Having abortions 

1938 - The Mother’s Cross 

• Awards presented on Mother’s Day in Germany were available to women who had four or more children

• Mothers with gold medals received a public salute from the Hitler Youth

• Families with ten children had to name Hitler as the godfather of the tenth child 

Women and Employment

• With the focus on women staying at home and caring for the family, the Nazis introduced laws to reduce the number of women at work: 

How Effective Were Nazi Policies Towards Women?

• Before the Second World War, the Nazis achieved some success with their policies

  • The number of marriages increased from 500,000 in 1932 to 750,000 by 1934

  • The birth rate gradually increased from 15 per 1000 in 1933 to 20 per 1000 in 1939

• However, the build-up to and during the Second World War impacted Nazi policies towards women

  • By 1937, Germany experienced a national shortage of workers

  • By 1939, women fulfilled factory jobs but women's employment rates did not increase to 1930 levels

  • Over 500,000 women worked in the Wehrmacht as nurses or other non-combat roles