Industrielle Beziehungen und Frauenarbeit. Normativität in der westdeutschen Textil- und Bekleidungsindustrie 1960–1990

Abstract

This article examines the development of industrial relations in two typically female employment sectors, the textile and clothing industries. Until the mid-1960s, both industries were regarded as typical »boom industries« of the economic miracle, but then experienced a gradual decline. At the same time, the structure of the workforce changed: until the 1970s, it was mainly young women who worked in these sectors, who left the workforce when they got married. Since then, however, older and married women have increasingly been employed in the textile industries. While working conditions in the 1960s were still strongly paternalistic, industrial relations became more diverse and conflictual during the 1970s and 1980s. Fundamental questions about the value of women’s work were negotiated, such as whether women should be treated differently from men in the workplace, and whether their wages represented a significant contribution to the household budget or merely a side income.