Free Example of German Normes Essay

Gender roles in German culture are constituted by the society. Brady, Crawford &Wiliarty (1999) established that there are no tasks beyond the biologically given roles of childbirth and breast feeding that require a woman rather than a man. Brady, Crawford &Wiliarty further continued to say that “gender roles in Germany clearly delineate a gendered division of labor were women are seen by society as embodying the primary role of a caregiver, a role that is largely supported by legal codes and legislation” (p. 237). Whether gender equality should prevail in Germany society is rather unclear given because of the ambiguous laws regarding that issue. Brady, Crawford &Wiliarty (1999) also said that the socially implicit understanding of woman’s role and their welfare citizenship rights is that of carrying out reproductive labor, which is non paid labor of childbearing and care taking (p. 237). On the other hand men are assumed to be the employed breadwinners. These gender role distinctions are most evident in three basic sets of codified norms which include: family rights, motherhood protection and female employment.

Colvin & Davies (2008) commented that men were reduced by the controlling gender roles regime to a passive female role and hence they lost all sense of their gender identity. They further said that despite gains for women at the level of policy and ideology, women are still oppressed by an ongoing patriarchal system in the gender roles. Colvin & Davies (2008) further says that “although the concern in of feminist theory has largely been with the position of women within a system that privileges men as a group, these stories revel the dynamics of gender in a way that makes  masculinity visible and thus causes significant problems to the position of men” (p. 211). They further established that in the years following the Nazi regimeconstructions of women as losers under Germany unification formed the basis of both media and scholarly representations of women and gender and this view is only nowadays receiving proper critical examination (p. 210).  

Family organization

Family organization in the Germany Culture has evolved to level were it resembles the dominant culture of imperial Germany despite the superficial differences which may arise from one region to another. According to Evans & Lee (1981) family in the Germany culture should be as cohesive and unified as possible in its outlook on life. They further outlined that family should be bound by the same values and modes of behavior. Bernstein (2004) on the other hand illustrated that it should be possible to find a pluralization of family forms which is in addition to the traditional form of parents and their children.

Pluralization of family also means that the culture has continually changing combinations of one parent and changing partners, same sex couples and single parent fathers or mothers (Bernstein, 2004). Bernstein therefore noted that Germans culturally have attached great importance to the family organization which has also played a significant role to the analysis of German culture (2004). It is therefore important and worth noting that cultural altitudes and beliefs in German have been shaped by the educational system, gender roles and family organization.