International Women's Day is celebrated worldwide on March 8. In Berlin, it's finally an official holiday — but across Germany the day and its meaning are falling flat. That is simply deplorable, says Anja Brockmann.
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Image: imago/C. Mang
A day of action or a day for celebration? Necessary or superfluous? For the first time, International Women's Day is now an official state holiday in the German capital — and only in the German capital, one of the country's 16 states.
And yet, the day is missing a certain something: a concept, an idea, a movement. If you ask around about March 8, the replies will be divided between sharp criticism and indifferent shrugs.
For some, Women's Day is a socialist relic; a reminder of the time when the country was divided and the women in East Germany as well as in the entire Eastern bloc were fobbed off with red carnations and beautiful turns of phrase. Others find that women in Germany have nothing to celebrate as long as they continue to earn less than men and carry the burden of family work. And then there are more than a few who think this whole fuss over women's rights should be over with already — after all, things can't be that bad for women if a woman has led the country for 13 years, right?
The degree to which Germans are hemming and hawing on Women's Day is particularly evident in the nation's capital, Berlin.
Here — and only here, in this one city-state — March 8 is now, for the first time, an official holiday.
It was to be expected that business leaders and economists would complain about the cost of losing a workday, and churches, for example, would likely have preferred adding another religious holiday instead.
But even Berlin Mayor Michael Müller, who was a strong voice for making it official to begin with, until recently didn't even know what he would be doing to mark the new holiday in his own city. Which just goes to show: It's all well and good that it's now a holiday, but it was probably less about the cause of women than about granting workers a day off and currying favor with Berlin voters.
While women in many other countries risk their lives if they appear unveiled in public, if they work as a journalist or if they send their daughters to school, the problems women face in this country may seem trivial. But even here in supposedly progressive Germany, the claim of equality guaranteed in the constitution and current social reality are still far apart.
Consider this: There is a German volleyball club whose sponsor thinks it's perfectly fine to print "prachtregion.de" (loosely translated: "slap here.com") on female athletes' short shorts. There is a major German online fashion retailer that caters to female clientele across Europe, but just decided to institute for the next few years a women's quota on its board — of exactly 0 percent. Then there is that male employee who denigrates his female boss as only having gotten the job through being a woman — despite her beating him through the application process. There are the supposedly reputable magazines that illustrate cover stories for seasonal colds and back problems with naked women. And last but certainly not least is the world of social media, in which men can indulge their hatred of women largely unpunished and, for the most petty or inane reasons, wish rape and death upon female users.
If all this is too depressing, then use International Women's Day to remember the women in Germany and around the world who — over a century ago and at great risk to their lives and livelihoods — took to the streets to demand their rights be respected. Against countless obstacles, they won women's suffrage and established the foundations of the equal rights movement. These women made the world a fairer and more democratic place — and thus a better place for us all, regardless of sex or gender. And that alone is reason to celebrate!
Women's movements in Germany — a long history
Women have been fighting for equal rights in Germany for over 170 years. Despite their extraordinary achievements, the #MeToo movement also shows that much still has to be done.
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'Songbird of the German women's movement'
Author Louise Otto-Peters (1819-1895) is a pioneer of Germany's women's movement. At the age of 24, she called for more female participation in decision-making and co-founded with other suffragists the General German Women's Association (Allgemeiner Deutscher Frauenverein) in 1865. The activist also wrote poetry and novels, earning her the "songbird" nickname.
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Helene Lange fought for equal opportunities
Girls didn't have easy access to education in Germany at the end of the 19th century. The women's movement of the late 1890s aimed to emancipate girls and women through schooling. Teacher and feminist Helene Lange (1948-1930) was a leading figure in this movement; she also founded different women's suffrage groups.
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Mother of the 'proletarian' women's movement
Activist Clara Zetkin (1857-1933) fought for stronger representation of women in trade unions, women's suffrage and abortion rights — already aiming to abolish the controversial Paragraph 218 of German criminal law, which remained an activists' issue well into the 1970s. She also contributed to establishing International Women's Day.
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Anita Augspurg and her women's group
Anita Augspurg (1857-1943) and her associates didn't care much about social conventions. Augspurg lived together with her girlfriend, and they both wore men's clothes and short hair. As a lawyer, she fought for women's suffrage — granted in Germany in 1918 — and the rights of prostitutes. Augspurg's association participated in forming international women's networks.
Image: Bifab/dpa/picture alliance
Backlash during the Nazi era
The Nazis rejected emancipatory movements. Women were expected to stick to their traditional roles as wives and mothers. The Nazi party promoted an image of women that had previously been dispelled by activists. In the eyes of the Nazis, women's rights groups had been created by Jews or Communists and needed to be suppressed.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
'German woman! Help too'
For several years under Hitler, German women's fundamental role was to bear as many children as possible and raise them with Nazi values, in order to help maintain the "Aryan race." Women who were particularly successful in this regard were honored with the Cross of Honor of the German Mother ("Mutterkreuz"). However, this changed once the war started, as women were needed in the workforce.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
Post-war reconstruction
With the end of World War II in 1945, German women came to play an important role in the reconstruction of the war-torn country. They not only helped remove debris, but also made their voices heard in politics. New women's associations picked up the work that had been stalled in 1933, aiming to achieve equal rights for women.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
The pill: A new form of freedom
In 1961, birth control pills became available in Germany. At first, they were only prescribed to married women — officially against menstruation pains. But the pill quickly became widespread, and strongly contributed to the sexual emancipation of women in the late 1960s.
Image: Everett Collection/picture alliance
Feminists from the student movement
The 1968 West German student movement fought not only to reform universities, but also against authoritarian structures and for sexual emancipation. However, the leadership of the movement was male-dominated; feminist activists went their own way. The banner on the right reads "Emancipation = Class conflict" — the influence of Marxist theory nevertheless remained strong for them too.
Image: Manfred Rhem/dpa/picture alliance
1971: 'We've had abortions!'
In Germany, abortion was a criminal offence until the 1970s. Following the sexual revolution of the late 60s, activists demanded the abolition of Paragraph 218 that outlaws abortion. In 1971, the magazine Stern published the names of 374 women admitting they had an abortion. The ban was lifted in 1975, and the law has been ammended several times since, legalizing abortions under certain terms.
Image: Der Stern
An eloquent fighter: Alice Schwarzer
A pioneer of Germany's feminist movement, Alice Schwarzer founded the country's first feminist magazine, EMMA, in 1977 that avoided all glamour and tackled political issues. Schwarzer remains a controversial figure in the country, but she has also driven important debates that have led to necessary changes for women.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Scheidemann
Freedom in purple overalls
In the mid 1970s, the West German women's movement also took on a new symbol — purple overalls, usually worn by workmen. Today, it is hard to believe how many restrictions were still imposed on women at the time, especially married women. It was only in 1977 that wives in West Germany were entitled to be gainfully employed without their husbands' authorization.
Image: Steinach/IMAGO
Indescribably feminine!
When "The Godmother of German Punk" — Nina Hagen — released her debut album in 1978, she attracted both criticism and enthusiasm. A woman fronting a punk rock band? Socially critical texts using plain vulgar language? A woman masturbating in front of a camera during a TV show? No other woman came to symbolize female freedom and liberty to that extent. Nina Hagen became a cult figure.
Image: CBD
A new awareness
"If men could become pregnant, abortion would be a fundamental right," says this banner from a 1993 protest. Women's voices grew stronger through associations for lesbians, women lawyers and peace activists. With the Green Party, feminism made it into Germany's parliament. Even the Christian Democrats followed suit, appointing a woman as a minister. But it took until 1997 to outlaw marital rape.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
No end in sight
Although women's movements have achieved some of their goals, a lot still remains to be done. Men still dominate Germany's parliament and big companies. Men still earn more money for doing the same job as women. And they still misuse their positions of power by sexually harassing or abusing women. Chances are that the #metoo movement founded in October 2017 will remain busy for some time to come.
