THE WOMEN FROM THE TEXTILE MILL - A CONTR IBUTION ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN THE GDR BASED ON LIFE-HISTORY SOURCES

How did women assert their parallel family and occupational responsibi lities-in a male-dominated company with a female employee majority, an d in a society in which the competition between the sexes was muted, b ut which had political structures not permitting a critical, democrati c discourse on topics including conditions of gender-specific dominanc e? This study focuses on female textile-industry workers in one city a nd belonging to one generation; women out on the fringes in a number o f respects and who had not (yet) broken out of their working condition s. Why that was so, as well as the experiences and meanings that they associated with their changed yet static living and working environmen t, are related in the form of life stories. The interviews were made i n 1991 and 1992 after the collapse of the local textile industry.