* The ideal woman was Aryan, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She would look traditional, with no make-up, hair in plaits, flat shoes, and plain clothes.
* The Nazis believed women had a very clear role in German society.
* Women were expected to look after the home and bear children for the Third Reich.
* Women were encouraged to be sturdy in their build because this was believed to help childbirth.
* Attitudes to women were shaped by the three ‘K’s: Kinder (children), Küche (Kitchen), Kirche (Church).
* The Nazis wanted all women to marry.
* To do this, they passed the Law for the Encouragement of Marriage.
* This gave married couples a loan of 1,000 marks.
* While the number of marriages did increase, we cannot automatically assume it was because of these marriage loans. Wider improvements to the economy could have also affected this.
* The Nazis had a ‘pro-natalist’ policy.
* This meant they wanted women to have lots of children to increase the Aryan race.
* For every child a family had, they were allowed to keep 250 marks of their marriage loan. If you had 4 children, you would not have to pay any money back.
* The Motherhood Cross was another incentive to have children.
* A bronze medal was for 4 children.
* A silver medal was for 6 children.
* A gold medal was for 8 children.
* The birth rate did increase from 15 babies per 1,000 in 1932 to 19 babies per 1,000 in 1938.
* But it is difficult to tell how much of this was down to the Nazis.
* To keep women in the home, they were discouraged from working.
* From 1933, women were banned from having professional jobs.
* Propaganda (information designed to influence people) stressed that women were not to steal jobs from men.
* But this policy was not as successful as the Nazis hoped.
* Women were cheap labourers and female employment rose by 2.4 million between 1933 and 1939.
* The Nazis wanted to educate women on how to look after their family and home.
* The German Women’s Enterprise (DFW) ran classes and radio shows to teach women how to run their home.
* Schools began to teach girls domestic skills.
* From 1937, girls in grammar schools were forbidden to prepare for university.