In 1989, when Germany became reunified after forty years of separation, no one could overlook the fact that East and West Germany differed greatly with regard to the position of women. The most striking difference of all seemed to lie in the rates of female employment: 91 per cent of all East German women under the age of 60 were counted as being employed, compared to only 55 per cent in West Germany.

These figures give the impression that the male breadwinner system, a solid pillar of the traditional gender hierarchy, had been demolished in the East, whereas in the West it was at best crumbling round the edges. This interpretation also fits neatly into the standard accounts, which stress the differences between the two Germanies. While East German literature celebrated the new gender order by dwelling on women's successful emancipation, West German literature emphasized the view that reinforcing the traditional gendered division of labour was a key element in the reconstruction of society.

Without denying the obvious dissimilarities, we would like to suggest a change of perspective. Shifting the main focus to the question of similarities, we shall trace the history of the male breadwinning experience in East and West Germany, starting in the turmoil of the post-war years. This approach seems to be particularly promising in relation to the 1950s and 1960s, when the common heritage still shaped life in both halves of Germany. This included the powerful ideology of the male breadwinner family where “the husband was expected to be the main, preferably the sole, breadwinner and his wife was to assume responsibility for running the household, preferably on a full-time basis”.