| World War I rocked the moral foundations upon which Imperial Germany stood. Military defeat in the war fostered intense cynicism and the country reeled from gender biases and conflicts amidst the backdrop of German modernity. Women were granted suffrage under the Weimar constitution, and the Weimar Republic, which governed Germany from 1918 to 1933, exhibited ambiguous leadership with its odd mixture of bourgeois legislation and state intervention. Female reproductive rights and duties garnered large social attention as women vociferously objected to the "double burden" of work and home. Increased female visibility prompted negative social constructions of women, culminating with visual representations of brutal death. German women instinctively recoiled from harsh criticisms, ultimately finding emancipation burdensome. The 1920's ended in economic collapse and the election of Nazi politicians reinforced conservative ideology, nullifying Weimar era emancipation. |
