Weaponized Womanhood: How German Women Were Complicit in Their Deprivation of Agency

In this essay, the topic of gender roles in Germany between the Weimar Republic and the Nazi regime is analyzed closely. Though women made major strides in establishing their rights to individual liberty following World War I, the onset of the Nazi era in Germany led to a precipitous drop in their involvement in wider society. The evidence for this includes an analysis of the guidelines of popular women’s clubs, university and government policies, as well as individual examples. What is remarkable about this event is that this was not done to women by men alone-- women across political boundaries worked together to architect their removal from public view.