The main purpose of the thesis is to examine the way that a socialist society, the GDR, which is committed to ensuring the equality of men and women in society, uses education to provide equal opportunities for girls and boys and carry out its cultural revolution. For the purposes of the thesis , education is used in its narrow and its broad sense, i.e the formal education system and socialisation in society as a whole. The Marxist theories of the liberation of women and of education, mainly in the form of the work of Engels and Rebel, and the development and application of these theories by members of the Social Democratic Party in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century, are examined first. The impact of the Weimar Republic and of the Third Reich are then looked at in relation to the legacy facing the new post-1945 government. A detailed description of the rhetoric of the GDR concerning women's equality is given, and most of the legislation concerning women is examined. In chapter 5 the education system of the GDR is laid out with particular reference to the education of girls. In the following two chapters there is a statistical analysis of the actual position of women in the GDR in terms of their education, employment and social and political standing in society. An analysis of the discrep2ncies between theory and practice is undertaken, with reference to research done within and outside the GDR. In conclusion, the success of the GDR in achieving women's equality is measured in their own terms and is examined within the framework of a socialist-feminist critique.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:630683 |
| Date | January 1987 |
| Creators | Wharton, Amanda Jane |
| Publisher | University College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10019643/ |
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