Fred Jandt degrades equality between men and women in political and governmental structures and calls it a rhetorical act. (F.Jandt) This week I will examine the role of genders in my country and compare them to other cultures and their norms. First I want to talk a little about the history of gender roles in Germany and my experience with it. In my hometown many things have changed in the last 60 years. Not only the end of the Second World War and the reconstruction of the country, but also society, its morals and its norms. Back in the mid-20th century, wives were treated much differently than today. The wife was considered an asset to the man. The husband also gave orders to his “weib,” which is an informal way of addressing one's spouse. There could be two reasons why a husband would call his wife “weib” nowadays. Either because he is extremely dissatisfied with his wife and wants her to explain the matter at hand, or because he was born at the beginning of the 20th century and doesn't know any better. Back then it was normal to call his wife that, because she had to be a little obedient. It would be very offensive and rude to talk to such a woman in today's society. I experienced this often too, as I regularly visited my grandparents. Even when I was little, I noticed that there was a difference between the way my parents talked to each other and the way my grandparents talked to each other. Today, marriage is a testimony of mutual respect and affection. As I said before, this was not the case in the past. Although most of these traits have disappeared over the years, there are still signs of their existence in society. For example, the wife is still considered to fulfill the traditional roles of women... middle of paper ......which places the country first in this statistic (Inter-Parliamentary Union, Jandt). More recent data shows that Germany still ranks 20th globally when it comes to women's political representation in the Lower House (Union, IP 2013). This shows how far Germany has come in integrating women not only into political but also decision-making roles in society. Germany, particularly Bavaria, is still relatively old-fashioned in its view of the distribution of roles between males and females. In my honest opinion, this is a good thing, as it stimulates family founding and prevents birth rates from falling further. With the aging population, this is one of the main problems Germany faces today. By fighting the problems of marriage, raising children and at the same time involving women in society, this problem can be solved.