The Nazis wanted women to focus on their roles as wives and mothers. The ideal woman was meant to follow the 3Ks - Kinder (Children), Küche (Cooking) and Kirche (Church). The Nazis wanted to increase the population to make Germany strong and they were worried that the birth rate had dropped dramatically since 1900. They also wanted to promote traditional family values.

Children: They were encouraged to have as many children as possible and were rewarded with money and medals. Loans were given to young couples (if the wife gave up work) and these were cancelled if they had 4 children. The Honour Cross of the German Mother was awarded for having a large family (Bronze for 5 children, Silver for 6 and Gold for 8). Contraception and abortion were made more difficult to access. The Nazis encouraged women who were past childbearing age to 'set their husband free' and encourage him to father more children with younger women. The Lebensborn programme encouraged single women to sleep with an SS soldier to 'have a baby for the Führer.' The birth rate increased by about 50% between 1933 and 1939.
Work: Women were discouraged from working and were sacked from jobs controlled by the government (e.g. teachers and civil servants). Before 1933 women had sat in the Reichstag and there were 3000 female doctors in Germany.
Lifestyle: Women were not meant to wear make-up or smoke. The Nazis were trying to reverse what they saw as the degenerate culture of the Weimar years.

Nazi policies towards women, however, were riddled with contradictions. The Nazis later realised that they needed more workers so in 1937 they encouraged them to work. During WWII, with the pressures of Total War, 3 million women were conscripted into the work force although only 1 million responded to this. Policies on sex and the family also undermined the family values that the Nazis had claimed to stand for and which had been one reason why some religious groups had supported the Nazis.

GCSE Germany 1890 - 1945 AQA

The Nazis and Women