Join Original Berlin Walks for International Women’s Day
Use the code
EqualPayNow
for 19% off
We are offering 19% off with the code EqualPayNow. Why 19%? that’s how (shockingly) big the gender pay gap in Germany is (source: destatis, the German government).
People of any gender are welcome to use the discount code, though we think it would be a nice show of solidarity for men to pay full price.
The Women of Berlin Tour
We launched the Women of Berlin Tour in August 2021. It was put together by the utterly fantastic tour guide Georgia Riungu, and covers the lives of many women that not only left a huge mark on Berlin, but in many cases have sadly been overlooked by historians.
“Stroll through the historic centre of Berlin and hear about the lives of the city’s most fascinating women. From queens and revolutionaries to feminists and world leaders, Berlin’s women have left their mark on Germany and the world.”
Learn more about the Women of Berlin Tour in English 🇬🇧
Learn more about the Berühmte Berlinerinnen Tour auf Deutsch 🇩🇪
What is International Women’s Day?
At the beginning of the 20th Century women’s movements across the world, including New Zealand, the United States, and Germany, started marking dates in late February/early March as “International Women’s Day”. The days were used to protest, raise awareness for women’s rights (including suffrage), and more. Across the world there were strong ties between socialist movements and women’s rights. It may come as no surprise to hear then, that the first country to mark International Women’s Day as a national holiday was the Soviet Union. The day was first marked in 1917 during the Russian Revolution on the 23rd of February on the Julian calendar used in Russia at the time, and thus March 8th on the Gregorian calendar used elsewhere in the world (and adopted by the Soviet Union in the following year).
In Germany, following the disastrous events of the first world war (1914-1918), International Women’s Day was promoted by the German communist party (KPD) on the 8th of March. Following Adolf Hitler’s seizure of power in 1933 political parties other than the Nazi party were banned, and International Women’s Day was no longer officially celebrated in Germany. Following the second world war (1939-1945) Germany was divided into the communist East and the capitalist West. Predictably, East Germany marked International Women’s Day, and West Germany did not.
International Women’s Day in East and West Germany
Whilst there is a tendency to think of East or West Germany as being “better” than one or the other, nothing in life is that simple. East Germany (GDR or DDR) was most definitely a non-democratic communist dictatorship, and its government, the Socialist Unity Party did some dreadful things. That is not to say that everything was somehow better in West Germany (BRD or FRG). The East German constitution, written in 1949, states:
“Man and woman shall have equal rights. All laws and regulations which are contrary to the equal rights of women are repealed”
By contrast, West Germany stated that :
“The husband is entitled to make decisions in all matters concerning the conjugal life of the couple”
Unbelievably, this was in the West German constitution until 1957. Find out more here.
Moreover, East German women were able to open their own bank accounts, where West German women had to ask permission from their husbands in order to do so. East German women benefited from more widely available childcare and a much smaller (though sadly still existing) gender pay gap.
