THE SITUATION OF EAST-GERMAN WOMEN IN POSTUNIFICATION GERMANY

East German women feared that they would lose many of their important rights and social provisions upon unification. Their fears were confirmed, and women's needs have been ignored in the policies of the new German Republic. Women are suffering more than men when it comes to unemployment: they are losing the childcare facilities they had had, and they are not benefitting fully from educational and retraining programmes. Furthermore, they are losing their presence in the political arena. The article concludes by stressing the necessity for all German women to work together if they do not want to find themselves pushed back into the kitchen, the church, and the nursery.