This article analyses data on aspects of gender relations in the German Democratic Republic and relates its findings to the debate on socialism within feminist writing. It points to the many aspects of gender relations in which the GDR has made greater advances towards sexual equality than the advanced Western capitalist societies. Variations in the attained level of women's emancipation between state socialist societies are discussed, and comparisons with the USSR are made to underline them. It is suggested that the advances made by the GDR are due primarily to its socialist social and economic system but also to such factors as its relatively high level of social and economic development, its severe labour shortage, and its peculiarly German labour tradition. The article concludes that the capabilities of state socialist society to advance towards sexual equality have to be taken more seriously by feminist theorists than has hitherto been the case.
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