CULTURAL REPRESENTATIONS AND INSTITUTIONA L REGULATIONS FOR WOMEN IN THE USA, WEST AND EAST-GERMANY

This paper compares the political measures taken towards institutional isation of the societal position of women in the USA, West and East Ge rmany. While the assertion and cementation of the traditional division of labour into male wage earners and female householders was central in the former (West) Federal Republic of Germany, the employment of wo men was promoted and demanded in the GDR. Due to the liberal political tradition in the USA, a specific gender politics was established rela tively late, which then concentrated on measures for gender equality. Further, an empirical review is taken of how the different political e xpediencies correspond to the consciousness of the populations. Using the ISSP 1994, which had the transformation of gender roles as its top ic, the attitudes of men and women towards the employment of women and mothers are examined in the three regions. In concurrence with the th eoretical formulations it is shown that in West Germany distinctly mor e traditional conceptions of the role of women persist than in the USA or East Germany. The employment of women is most clearly advocated in East Germany, while in the USA liberal views also towards the tension s between family and career can be discerned.