Monday, March 24, 2008
Blog #12 (Unit 10) Totalitarianism and WWII
Analyze the extent to which women’s roles changed in the USSR, Italy, and Germany in the years 1927 to 1940. Be sure to give specific examples of countries and governments. (Remember to respond to the question in 6-8 sentences (yes it can be longer) and to respond to two of your classmates answers in 4-6 sentences. Do not just agree or disagree without defending or justifying your argument.) Think above and beyond the common answers that you may see. Be sure to challenge your classmates with controversial tactics, actions or selections. Good Luck!!!!
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Italy: The fascist Italy during the time period between 1927-1940 discouraged female participation in the work force. The jobs available for women were lower skilled and were made difficult for women to compete with men. In 1938 the government limited the number of women employees in the government or private offices to 10 percent. Also, Italian mothers were encouraged to have more children and remain at home.
USSR: Alexandra Kollontai wrote the Communism and Family and envisioned a family that would free both men and women. She wanted to replace egotistic relationships with love. Divorce started to come easier for women. They were also given more protection in the workplace and marriage. Abortion was legalized in 1920. Women received higher positions in the communist party but had no impact on the Soviet government. Education was available for women but they were paid less than men.
Germany: Women had a job of preserving racial purity and giving birth to healthy minded children. The Nazi policy disapproved of fostering motherhood. Family payments were sent to husbands rather than wives. Women’s employment included agricultural labor, teaching, nursing, and domestic service.
Over the years women's role have changed from house wife to active members in the society.
In the USSR women were held up to the utopian views of their gender roles. according to Alexandra Kollontai women were liberrated to become equal with the men. and their roles in the household were equally split. she thought that family should be based upon love and compradeship.
In Italy women were to remain near the home and bear and take care of the children. The government especially had put and emphasis on child rearing for women. They discouraged female participation in the work force and forced them to work lower jobs.
In germany the role of women had also changed. In nazi ideology women were those responsible for the desired race and the undesired race. they favored the women who were racially beneficial to their plans for a perfect race. The nazis emphaiszed motherhood and at the same time the jobs of women rose in the work force.Women were supposed to perform the "natural" jobs of employment such as agricultural labor, social and domestic service. They had also expected that the women would be the educators of the young and be consumers fo rhte home while boycotting the jewish industries.
In the USSR, women were pretty much equal to men in all aspects, and worked just as hard, in the factories and for the war effort. They were also subject to inclusion in Stalin's Five Year Plans.
In WW2 Germany, women were also considered to be of equal or respected status, as they were appreciated for their ability to rear beautiful Aryan babies.
I'm not all that sure on Italy, but I believe they were still relatively primitive in their conception of women.
I agree with megha on Germany's appreciation of women, and from the brief pages I read, I concur with abby's summation of women's roles in Italy.
Throughout Europe, between the years 1927-1940, many new forms of government were established in different countries. Germany and Italy were both Fascist nations while the USSR was a Communist nation.
The Fascist nations of Italy and Germany both had different views on how women should be treated and what role's they should have. Italy, for exmaple, limited the jobs avaliable to women and generally kept the old way of thinking. Women should stay in the household and have kids. In comparison to Germany, however, the outlook was similar. Germany had respect for Aryan women because they could have German-Aryan, pure, children.
On the contrary, the USSR (with their Communist way of life) believed in equality among all human beings. Gender did not matter. Women were allowed to work and do things they couldn't before (such as get an abortion).
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I agree with Megah Shaw that even though women worked along men, they were still paid less. Hypocracy shows up everywhere.
Responses:
Abby: I agree with you where in Italy, women were restricted in the work force and were preferred to stay at home. They also put emphasis on childbearing for women. As well as in Germany women were to give birth to the desired race.
DjANDY23: I agree with you when you mention that in Germany they preferred women who gave birth to children of pure and Aryan race. As well as in Italy women’s jobs were limited and they were supposed to stay in the household.
My Response:
Fascism in Italy
Fascism basically encouraged women to have more children and remain in home to take care them. The Fascist government also instituted polices for motherhood in Italy, such as maternity leaves, and insurance. They were also against contraception and abortion. Since the government provided more benefits to the mothers and children in Italy, they became more dependent on the government because they could not live off their wages.
USSR in Russia
Women received the same rights as men after the Bolsheviks achieved power. Women could now divorce and were given more protection within marriage and the work place. In addition, the USSR let the women to vote. Women would also become the leaders in the party and the economy. There were more educational opportunities for women.
Nazism in Germany
In Germany, Nazism wanted the women to produce more “pure Germans” with healthy mind and body, rather than having a national population. According to the Nazi racial ideology, women were the Germany’s carriers and bearers of both desired and undesired races. For the other races that were living in Germany, their motherhoods were disapproved, especially the Jews. Similar to the Fascists in Italy, the Nazi in Germany also provided benefits for mothers. The Nazi provided tax breaks for families with children and provided allowances for children. Under the Nazis ideology of women, women were the protectors of German cultural vales.
My Comments:
Megha Shah: I disagreed with Megha when she mentioned that “The Nazi policy disapproved of fostering motherhood,” From what I read in the book, the Nazis were encouraging early marriages and therefore, it was fostering motherhood? I think what you are trying to say is the Nazi policy were disapproved of fostering motherhood among the other races in Germany, such as Slavics and Jews?
DJAndy32: I agreed with you when you mentioned how the gender did not matter under the USSR. Women were also given more educational opportunities, and there were also women leaders within the communist party and the USSR’s economy.
my responses:
I agree with daisy when she stated that the nazis were focused on creating a "pure race" and looked to women to achieve that. They couldnt bear children mixed woth other races.
I also agree with megha the roles for women in the USSR were changed, they could divorce, and they recieved more protection in the roles they already took. They may have been given a more variety of responsibilites in the country but their impact on the government hadnt entirelye changed yet.
USSR: the bolsheviks made divorce easier, women were given more protection in the work force, educational services were available, and overall they were more equal to men. however, on top of work, and career, it was still expected of them to raise their kids, and bring home food (waiting in long food lines).
Italy: fascists celebrated the image of men earning a living for their families. fascism urged women to stay at home and produce new generations of fascist munchkins. despite these efforts, women still made up about a quarter of the work force. their jobs however, were not necessarily the best-the government restricted women to lesser skilled occupations. all in all, i'd say the role of women was affected negatively.
Germany: germany was nationalistic and under nationalism women were expected to stay at home, reproduce, and raise the kids. but when war came, women had to replace men called to fight.
i like the point made out by djandy and daisy about women in germany. only aryan women/mothers were respected and women of other races, as daisy said, disapporved. megha's right in saying women in the USSR got more education and political positions - but never made it big. this is partially because they still had to keep the family together, provide food, raise the kids, and work at the same time.
:I
Italy-The fascist policy in Italy wanted mothers to have children and to spend their time at home raising their children. Upto twenty five percent of the work force was made up of women. The fascist government kept women in low skilled jobs.By 1940, the women's labor force became part-time and it was more low skilled than before.
USSR-Alexandra Kollontai expressed her want to give the husband and wife same "tasks" in her Communism and the Family. Bolsheviks issued laws that affected women; divorce became easier and abortion became legal in 1920.
Germany-German women were expected to give birth to "pure" Germans.The role in childbirth was compared to men in battle as to say that they both had certain tasks to accomplish.
My Responses:
I agree with Megha when she said that women had no impact on the Soviet government. Because althought they now were offered high positions in the Communist Party and more women voted, they couldn't influence the Soviet government in any way.
I also agree with Anu when she said that women were given more rights but they were still expected to do what they had done before. Some of the things were to take care of their children, food, clothing and keep the family together.
USSR: In the USSR Women were given more rolls and opportunities. To express their communist views; women were encouraged more equality as men. For example, women were allowed to work in the communes and factories alongside men. When WWII began in 1939 the USSR needed more troop; thus women were handed guns and helmets to fight alongside men.
Germany & Italy: Italian and German views on women were practically the same. Before the fascist concepts entered these 2 countries, women had more jobs and freedom. Because of fascism women were encouraged to produce more offspring and to stay at home and raise their children. For german women they were given the idea that them and only them can give birth to "pure germans".
I agree with Daisy because in Russia women did recieve the same rights as men. Women were just as needed as men.
Megah i also agree with u because in the USSR women were allowed divorces. They were given protection in what they believed in.
I agree with everyone so far that agreed on my point that Aryan women were basically the only women that were respected throughout Germany. Only certain, pure, women carried the Aryan gene that Hitler thought was truly in favor of preserving the Aryan race.
Germany had been striving to keep racial purity throughout the the years before and some time after WWII. Hitler, along with some help from propaganda had decived his people into thinking that Aryan traits were dominant over others. The role of women was centered around this in Germany. The birth and the nuturing of newborns was their primary job. In Germany, the men were mad to protect te country and the women were ther to keep the population up.
In the USSR, the boundary between the genders had been broken. Women could practice and had many of the privileges and rights of a common man. They could vote and work in most any job that they wished, but this was mostly only true government positions. Seeing women participate in high ranking positions was rare.
In Italy, women were oppressed greatly. They were not allowed access to most jobs, and could not vote, even if there was free voting in Italy. The role of women was mainly practiced at home. Mothering and child birth was greatly encouraged and there were benefits for those who did, most of the time.
I agree with Megha. Jobs for women were limited because their role was to stay at home raising kids, in Italy. This way, the population could stay up.
I disagree with Daisy in that she disagreed with Megha. Women were frowned upon when they would adopt children instead of giving birth to them. Adoptions don't kepp the population up and doesn't allow Hitler to prove that Aryan traits were superior to those of other races.
During the years 1927-1940, the roles and significance of women progressively changed throughout Europe.
In Russia, within the USSR, equality was an aspect in which entailed women and men the same rights. After the Bolsheviks gained power, women were given the right to vote, be leaders of the Communist party and economy, divorce,and had more educational advantages. Women were also given more protection towards their marriage and in their workplace. Abortion was legalized as well. During the early Soviet Union, Alexandra Kollontai believed that the structure of family and position of women were going to change. The roles upon women and men in the household were equally shared. She believed that marriage and relationships should be about compassion. All in all, women were generally equal to the men.
In fascist Italy, the Italian women were encouraged tp have more children and to remain at home to benefit their Italian state. The fascist govenment discouraged female participation in the work force, moreso keep women at a lower skilled employment. Even though fascists provided civil service jobs for women, it was more difficult for them to compete with make workers.
And because the govenment provided adequate benefites for the mothers and their children, they usually depended on the government for the Italian wages were low.
Under the rule Of Hitler and the Nazis, it was emphasized that they didn't want such a national population, but moreso having racially pure Germans. As for women, the had the "special task" of maintaining racial purity and producing more pure Germans who were healthy in mind and body to benefit their nation. The Nazi journalist used the role of women in childbirth to compare it with men in battle. Nazi racial ideology focused women as the carriers and bearers of the desired and indesired races. The govenment made it an issue that it should be the females who are fit to bear the children for their nation. The Nazi theorists even discriminated towards the healthy and unhealthy, the desirable and undesiralbe. They were very much picky on what they felt necessary for their nation. according to Nazi ideology, the women were to stay at home, mainly giving birth and taking care of children and supporting their hisband. The jobs of the working women were enforced to be "natural" such as agricultural labor, teaching, nursing, etc. The Nazis encouaged the women to be educators of the young.
Responses:
I agree with the statement that Andres and Daisy made- that in Germany, they only preferred production of "pure race" or Aryan races. I believe that they were too particular on what the felt was best for their nation, especially the "purity" of the child.
I also agree with Megha when she stated, "Family payments were sent to husbands rather than wives." The chances of the husbands receiving the benefits were highly natural during that time for the women had less rights than the men.
before the war the common employment was a domestic servant. and some believed that "a womans place is in the home"
working class women moved into male working class and upper and middle class women had done volunteer work and ecomnomic independece.
They retained some of the social independence during the war. They earned less pay and had to give up "male jobs"
would Rosie the reviter be an icon?
she encouraged the women to help keep companies going so their husbands could keep their jobs but
millions of men joned the armed forces workers were need to fill their places and this encouraged women to take their places inthe factories and earned higher wages.
6 million women joined the work force.
As it was then and before women were always thought to only have many healthy children, rear them, cook, clean, and basically do everything the husband wanted them to do. It was way worse in the Fasicist countries; such as Italy and Germany.
In italy the women had it harder, they were able to work, but very low skilled jobs, which ment they were paid less and especially less because they are women even thought they worked just as hard or even harder.
but they were looked down upon because many did believe it wasnt a womens place to work.
Now in Germany, the women were respected more because they enjoyed the fact that the women who were of german-aryan race perserved and kept the race but even some women werent allowed to have anyh children depending if they were pretty or not which is really messed up. but german women were given more and better jobs then the jobs given to the women in italy, but they were ofcourse paidless.
In the ussr, women were really kind of equal of course there isnt full equality between the two genders epspecially back then but they were given pretty good jobs, they were allowed to have abortions , and in divorces they were supported much better and were not treated disrepectfully because many people then were bias.
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