Made in the GDR - the changing geographies of women in the post-socialist society of Mecklenburg-Westpommerania

This thesis has focused on the gendered aspects of post-unification transformations in rural East Germany. Significant themes throughout the thesis have been the social consequences of change in the labour market and at the workplace, and issues associated with the socio-political integration of rural women. This conclusion then has two principle objectives: the first is to assess key findings of the thesis with regard to the nature of dominant patriarchal power structures, and the extent to which they shaped developments in the GDR and the New Germany. Whilst dominant power structures are explored which have essentially suppressed women, the argument also draws on examples of 'counterspaces- [as] positions and spaces from which women attempt to inflect dominant spatialities'. Secondly, key mechanisms which have contributed to the formation of gendered identities within these dominant structures will be discussed. It will be shown that both the GDR and the New Germany institutionalised forms of patriarchy which have inhibited women's full integration into decision-making structures and instead encouraged the development of different 'male' and 'female' roles. Although this political arrangement subordinated women as a group, women themselves are not, of course, uniform in their characteristics and ambitions. Instead, some women have adapted to such pressures by becoming like men, for example, whereas others have created unique spaces for themselves in which dominant structures can be contested.