The Mothers’ Manifesto and Disputes over ‘Mütterlichkeit’

Abstract

From the standpoint of Thatcher's privatized Britain, the Mother's Manifesto, issued by a section of women in the West German Greens in 1987, seems radical indeed. Its demands include collective provision for child care, a revision of urban design, pay and pensions for home carers, flexible employment, increased leisure time, and the facilitation of political activity for mothers (Table 1). Yet it provoked a year-long blaze of discussion in the Federal Republic. For 'emancipationists' and advocates of 'equal rights', the resurrection of 'Mutterlichkeit'1 spelled reaction, even Nazism and Mothers' Crosses.2 Understanding this rift requires an exploration of the resonance of 'neue Miitterlichkeit' in the German context, a questionable undertaking for an outsider, here hazarded from three angles. I look first at debates in German feminism, which have framed discussions about the Manifesto and are linked to wider developments in Western feminism. Second, I consider the context of family policy in the ruling conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the 1980s, and Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Green Party responses. And third, I discuss the history of the concept of 'Miitterlichkeit' in pre-Weimar, Weimar and Nazi Germany, the reading of which is hotly contested.