Role of Women in Germany

Role of Women:

            I chose to expand on the topic of Women, only for the fact is that I took a lot of women studies class here at SCSU and I find the topic of women interesting and wanted to know about Germany’s treatment of women.

            They way women are treated is a universal thing. Women are treated less than man not only in Germany, but also in the United States and all over the world. Even today this still occurs. In today’s society women are seen less than a man. Especially when it comes to jobs. Today men hold most top jobs such as CEO’s, and women are still paid 75 cents to the dollar a man makes. Women are still seen as less educated and weaker. They are treated that they should stay in the home and do the typical homemaker jobs.

            In West Germany, women were the minority. There main responsibilities were: Kirche, Kinder, and Kuche, which translates to churches, children, and kitchen. The men did they hard work so the women could stay home and take care of the children and do the housework, such as laundry, cooking, and cleaning.

            Women were seldom even valued in society. Almost 2/3 of the women were unemployed and the women that did work, only obtained factory jobs. These jobs were mainly at the time of the war because they men had to go to war and the women stepped in to complete the work tasks.

     Women had quit the struggle throughout the years in Germany. But by the turn of the 20^th century, women started working more, abortion was legalized, and they were able to start making their own choices. Women started become educated and started to work more. An Organization in Germany fought for equal rights in Germany for their women, and eventually succeeded because women were able to now vote. The process to have equal rights for women was starting to make progress.

            I think it is interesting how similar the past treatment of women is so similar to the United States history of the treatment of women. The United States and Germany have very similar backgrounds. But all though women have made great progress, we still today treat women as the lesser sex and don’t give them the same opportunities as we do men. 

Agriculture

Agriculture in Germany:

The first topic I wished to expand on from the first week of presentations was the agriculture of Germany. A lot of the groups talked about businesses and industries of Germany and touched briefly on the agriculture. So I took it upon myself to expand more on it.

It turns out that Germany has almost 1/3 of its land fit for farming development. Germany in fact is a farming country as well. Agriculture and farming was far more popular before the development of big business and before the industries expanded all over Germany. This hurt the farmers. Today Germany’s farmland is much less.

So now the question is “What kind of stuff does Germany grow and produce?” Well in the northern part of Germany it is considered lowlands. In the north they produce mainly sugar beets because the ground is nearly flat and is perfect conditions for sugar beets. Orchards farm and also vegetable farms surround most of Germany’s cities. This is because it is near the river and that is where you will fine Germany’s vineyards. And of course in Bavaria, most of Germany’s BEER is produced there. Since we are talking about Germany, we have to talk about beer. To produce beer, Germany needs to also produce a lot of grain, which they do. Germany mainly produces sugar beets, wheat, barley, and potatoes.

They funny thing about Germany is that, Germany has a lot of land available for farming, and yet the import a lot of agricultural goods. This is strange to me, because why waste money on importing when you can just grow it yourself?

But as I said earlier, Germany’s farming and agricultural aspect has been declining drastically over the years. Since the industrial revolution, farming is not nearly as popular anymore and most of its tillable land is not being used for farming.

Resources (All info paraphrased from two sites below)

1. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/231186/Germany/58019/Agriculture-forestry-and-fishing

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Germany

18th Century Dance, Music, Art

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All Quiet on the Western Front:

Five Talking Points:
1. A novel that shows the affect of war on a soldiers psyche
2. A book without a heroic story plot or a happy ever after ending; but rather the conditions of war
3. A book about how war can change a person to an unrecognizable person, even to their family
4. A novel that shows how war makes an 18 year old BOY grow up to an OLD man so fast
5. "All Quiet on the Western Front" symbolizes the cheapness of human life in a war

All Quiet on the Western Front:

Character Post:

The character I chose is Paul Baumer. He is the main character in this book and is also the narrator. The book is told from him. He is only nineteen years old when he enlisted in the German Army. When he gets to deployed, he is sent to the western front. On the western front, he experiences many issues. Issues that range from psychological effects and to physical effects. Many common issues that war brings to the soldiers. Before he left, Paul was a creative, compassionate and sensitive person. He was passionate and loved his family, but the war slowly changed him. He used to love to write poetry. He started to disconnect himself from his feelings. He learned that he had to disconnect his feelings in order to survive and to keep his sanity. He has feelings of being an outcast where his family is concerned. Paul is unable to mourn the deaths of his fellow soldiers, unable to feel at home, and not able to express his feelings about the war, Paul starts to become a "human animal". But because Paul is truly a sensitive person, he is unable to detach himself 100%. By the end of the book, you see Paul realize that he has lost all his hopes and dreams and he makes the decision that he has nothing more to lose. By the end of the book, Paul is killed.

All Quiet on the Western Front:

Chapter Four Summary:

Chapter four starts like this, the second company is assigned on a dangerous task to the lay-barded wire on the front. As they are driving they pass a house with a lot of geese. They agree to come back later to get them. Kat and Paul hear gunfire. Kat explains to the recruits how to distinguish which guns are firing. Kat thinks that there will be an ambush/bombardment later in the night. This chapter also talks about how soldiers transform themselves into human animals. There senses heighten in order to keep them alive. Then the soldiers carry wire and iron rods to the front. They lay the wire, and try to sleep until the trucks arrive to drive them back. Kat’s prediction that they would be bombarded is correct. Panic arises and creates chaos and run for cover. Paul talks to one of the recruits and how it is normal for a new solider to poop in his pants and tells him it is essentially normal and ok. The men hear the sounds of wounded and dying horses screaming in pain and torture. Detering is horrified because he loves horses. After the wounded men are gathered, those in charge of shooting the wounded animals do their job. Detering declares with disgust that using horses in war is the “vilest baseness.” On the drive back a swarm of bombs land around them. The men take cover. They put their gas mask on and seek shelter for protection. Paul takes a breath on the valve of the mask, hoping that the mask is airtight. The shelling has stopped. They ending of this chapter is a dilemma, where they don’t know if the should kill a soldier to ease his agony or let him be in pain. 

How my group worked on German Parties:

I was unable to make the group meeting when we set everything up due to being sick. But my group members were extremely helpful in e-mailing me the powerpoint and helping me out. They seem to worked well together and the powerpoint seems put together well. I hope everything went swell during our presentation!