30 years after fall of Berlin Wall, Germany is still unequal

THE year 2019 has been an exceptional one for Germany. On Nov 9, it would have been 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The fall also meant that the inner German border which had separated the country into two for 40 years had been demolished.

Anniversaries are often used as occasions to strike a balance. And as such, developments after the fall of the Wall have been highlighted, analysed and evaluated from many angles.

One issue which has had some airing of late is the status of women in Germany 30 years after two worlds have come together, particularly in terms of gender equality.

Up till 1977, on the western side of the German Republic, women were allowed to go to work only if their husbands had no objections. In the 1980s and 1990s, women in the West still had to justify themselves as they took their children to the kindergarten and went to work, instead of staying home to take care of the hous…