Were the Nazis Sucessful In Controlling the Lives of Women?  Explain Your Answer.

In 1933, Hitler passed a law which enabled married couples to obtain loans to set up homes and start families. This was clever from Hitler because many couples wanted the money, and therefore they had to follow and support Hitler's ideals. Action was also taken to stop women having the top jobs. In 1934, married women doctors and civil servants were dismissed and from 1936, women could no longer act as judges or public prosecutors.

The next method that Hitler used to try and control women was through the economy.

His aim was to not have any women in employment because he felt that the women were taking the men's jobs, which caused high unemployment figures. Hitler wanted these unemployment figures to decrease, and he wanted to do this by removing women from their jobs. He did this by offering them incentives to leave work. He gave medals to women who stayed at home and had four or more children. This proved successful as Hitler distributed three million medals in 1939. Labour exchanges were told to offer jobs to men first and he uses mass propaganda to pressure women to stay at home. All of Hitler's measures brought about a large percentage drop of women in work. But rearmament meant that men had to join the army, so from 1938, women were increasingly being used in the workplace as cheap labour.

The third method he used was to control women's lives socially. This was probably the most effective method, however it was the hardest to enforce. Hitler's main aim was to change the way women portrayed themselves and their role in society. The best way for Hitler to do this was to start by indoctrinating the young girls. He did this through the youth movements. The girls were only taught things which Hitler felt they needed to know. They were taught that women had to have children and look after their husbands. They were told not to smoke or diet as it could affect their ability to have healthy children. In schools round the country, every class was built around a course called Frauenschaffen, activities of women. This was a general subject which was divided into several subjects which included handwork, cooking and house work and personal hygiene. Women felt pressured about the way they dressed and acted because of the propaganda. Women felt pressured to act as Hitler wanted them to and were incessantly scrutinised.

However there was opposition from women because Hitler had to create three concentration camps especially for women. This proved that Hitler did have difficulty with women.

Politically and economically, it was easy to judge if Hitler was successful in these areas. He was extremely successful because many women drop out of work and stay home, and the fact that Hitler gave three million medals to women for having four or more children proved that many women were under Hitler's control. Social influence is much harder to judge as there is no conclusive evidence. However indoctrination of the youth is easy to administer and is extremely effective. Pressure among society is also an effective medium to control people's behaviour, as it is still effective in today's society.