Barriers for German Women

Our story on the difficulty German women face in trying to pursue a career and raise a family prompted some readers to share stories of confronting the country's traditional attitudes to gender roles. Other readers felt that the value of spending time with children while they are young should not be discounted

I'm 35 and a woman scientist. Your article "The German Question," about the struggle for gender equality and the difficulties workingwomen face underlined issues that are very much my everyday reality [Jan. 30]. After learning about the ways other societies function, I believe there is still much progress to be made here in Germany. Like many others, irrespective of gender, who have spent a few years abroad, I am trying to reintegrate myself into German society, but I find it immensely hard to do so. At least one reason could be that German attitudes fail to nurture enthusiasm and creativity. The brain drain from Germany is a phenomenon that is likely to continue for a few more years.
Nadina Stadler
Bonn, Germany

I am sick and tired of the notion that being a full-time parent means a workingwoman has given up on the feminist cause. Feminism was meant not to turn women into men but to give women the freedom to choose to work inside or outside the home. Having lived in Germany for seven years, I appreciate that it is truly difficult for German women to combine career and children, yet the endless comparison of earth mother vs. career mother is pointless and divisive. It is important to realize that nowadays educated, experienced women like me are not necessarily wasting our skills by staying at home; rather we are choosing to use our skills for another good cause — raising our children.
Annette Cashell
Nuremberg, Germany

Your article reported that German women are forced to choose between working or having a family. I came to Germany from Italy to study at a university in Munich. My idea of Germany was one of a technologically driven, progressive and modern society. Eighteen years later, after working and having my children here, I have to admit that the picture is a very different one: women have to cope with an entrenched patriarchal attitude in both the workplace and society and are offered very little support and empathy when striving to have a career and a family. I also learned two words I had never experienced directly: frauenfeindlich and kinderfeindlich, which can translate as misogynistic and anti-kids, respectively. German attitudes toward women and work must change, or we will find ourselves living in a very sad, cynical and decrepit society.
Gianna Stefanutto
Munich

Some societies force women to choose between work and family. Other societies don't compel that choice but simply allow it to occur structurally. And in other societies hourly wages are so low that the only way a couple can afford children is for both parents to work full time. Are you sure Germany belongs to the first group and not the second? And what about the U.S.?
José Luís S. Ferreira
Maia, Portugal

Parents of today must expect a reduced standard of living if they start a family. To have and educate children is a major effort for parents, even more for a single parent. For mankind, however, it is the most important task, despite imposing some hardship on the parents. Chancellor Angela Merkel and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, both childless, will enter the history books, but for the continuation of humanity, they are worthless.
Dieter Gebrath
Gelnhausen, Germany

My son was born in Germany 11 years ago. That is how I got to know a Germany even my mother would have found old-fashioned. As a Norwegian and a career woman, I decided to move back home to avoid hostile and insensitive comments on my dual responsibilities of work and family. German women have to learn to fight for their rights. Only they can change their society — as Scandinavians did 30 years ago. The election of Angela Merkel as Chancellor is a good start. I hope she will be able to change Germany into a modern society with room for both children and women's careers. German women have to lead the movement for change, and change always hurts.
Anne Gro Gulla
Oslo

Power Politics
In his column "Be careful what you wish for," Michael Elliott referred to political scientist Michael Mandelbaum's argument that the U.S. has promoted global security by reducing the threat of world war [Jan. 23]. In quoting Mandelbaum's theories, Elliott evokes the prominent role of the U.S. during the past few decades in the peacemaking processes around the world. Elliott deplores the loneliness of the U.S. in its quest for a steadier Kosovo or Bosnia, denouncing the lack of Europe's commitment. Elliott may have forgotten that in both places, Kosovo and Bosnia, American and European soldiers fought side by side and that air strikes were also delivered by European aircraft.
Romain Champenois
Versailles, France

The commentary by Elliott was a thinly disguised apology for American foreign policy. He claims the U.S. led the way in the campaign against nuclear proliferation, yet the U.S. maintains, and has always maintained, the largest nuclear arsenal in the world. Elliott also praises American restraint, which must seem like a morbid joke to the relatives of innocent Pakistanis, Afghans and Iraqis killed whenever American forces react too eagerly to intelligence. Elliott's claims that the U.S. acts to protect others ring hollow. The U.S. does not involve itself where there is nothing to gain. The chaos in Iraq, the almost forgotten war in Afghanistan, the staggering costs of the war on terrorists and the ever increasing litany of human-rights abuses make me deeply uncomfortable with the U.S.'s role as self-declared protector of our society.
Barry Meggs
Dublin

Tokyo Stock Shock
"Living on the edge" described the scandal about charges that the Japanese Internet company Livedoor was involved in illegal securities manipulation [Jan. 30]. Livedoor's founder and CEO, Takafumie Horie, kept on holding press conferences because the company caters to naive individual shareholders who put their trust in what they see on TV. The comment by Horie, "What I care about most is the publicity the company gets," held to be true. The benefit everyone gains from the Livedoor shock is the awareness that the public needs to have a higher level of financial literacy. Livedoor shareholders have learned a costly yet important lesson: it's always good to know exactly what you're paying for.
Jo Matsumoto
Fujisawa, Japan

Cowboys in Love
The critical acclaim received by the movie Brokeback Mountain is well deserved [Jan. 30]. It takes a courageous filmmaker to tackle the subject of a love affair between two men. Like many, I was awed by the depth of the movie and its characters. But I am concerned about gay men who continue to carry on homosexual affairs while married to women who have no knowledge of their husbands' extramarital activities. While many people are moved by the pain and forbidden love that the male characters share in this movie, I can think only about their wives and the secrets that were kept from them.
Linda Robertson
Oakland, California, U.S.