Varieties of Feminism: German Gender Politics in Global Perspective by Myra Marx Ferree (review)

In this excellent comparative study, Ferree contrasts feminism in Germany and the United States to illuminate the differences between the two. With a particular eye to intersectionality (gender and race, gender and class), she uses the successes of one country's feminism to draw attention to where the other could yet succeed or must still grow. Ferree states early on that the point of the book is not to determine the success of the women's movement in either country or the degree to which it is feminist. In the end, however, she seems to regard feminism in Germany as more successful for this moment, as it is influencing policy (particularly when inspired by other EU member countries) while American feminism is on the defensive against conservative forces mobilized against, for example, women's reproductive rights.

Ferree begins her book by outlining the fundamental differences between German and American feminism. She says, "Germany's feminism is premised on political assumptions that stress social justice, family values, and state responsibility for the common good." This is in contrast to the United States, where "liberal individualism and equal rights" are privileged (2). As a result of these two very different political orientations, feminism in Germany came to be more closely aligned with class issues, while US feminism allied itself with issues of race. This significant difference underscores the divergent trajectories of these two varieties of feminism, and Ferree returns to this throughout her analysis.

The first two chapters establish Ferree's approach to the material. Chapter 1 lays the theoretical groundwork and articulates terminology drawn from politics (liberal, neoliberalism) and gender studies ("gender regime," "gender order," and "gender projects," all three terms from Raewyn Connell), which Ferree uses throughout. Chapter 2, "Creating Women Citizens: National Frameworks for Gender Equality and Self-determination," reaches back to the founding of the German empire in 1871, which she contrasts with the American Revolution of 1776. Consistently making clear the divergent paths of German and American feminisms, Ferree begins to articulate the issues of class and race that underscore her analysis: "Unlike European states that imagined themselves as ethically unitary—the German Volk, for example—the United States defined itself as ethnically mixed but hierarchically organized" (27).

The following three chapters chart the development of second-wave feminism in Germany (by and large, West Germany) from 1968 to 1990. Opening each chapter with an illustrative anecdote from her own experience (Ferree spent a great deal of time in Germany and is frank about her own participation in the women's movement) brings personality and humor to the political analysis. Chapter 3 spends more attention than nearly any other chapter on comparing the situations and approaches of women in East and West Germany. Because of top-down policy in the East, such as nearly universal employment of women and the legalization of first-trimester abortions in 1972, East German women seemed to be more emancipated than their West German counterparts. Yet, as Ferree points out, "The concrete benefits offered by the East German state, however, came not from engagement with the state but as patriarchally bestowed gifts" (73). By contrast, West German women did not have the same "gifts" but struggled to advocate for the valuation of reproductive and domestic labor, the legalization of abortion, and greater employment opportunities. Ferree uses some trenchant examples to draw out these differences, such as the use of gender-specific professional terms (e.g., Professorin, Ärztin)—regarded as a hard-earned means of asserting female presence in the work force in West Germany, and an unnecessary distinction for East German women, who were used to working side by side with other women and men. This comparison prefigures some of the tension that arises in Chapter 6, which focuses on gender politics surrounding German unification, when East and West German women struggled to work in concert for feminist goals.

Chapters 4 and 5 continue to...