In November 1918, German women gained the right to vote. Analyzing propaganda aimed at women voters, this study shows how various groups struggled to reconcile traditional assumption about women's interests with the changing face of the family and female economic activity.

Though Weimar political culture was ahead of it time in forcing even the enemies of women's rights to concede a public role for women, this horizon of possibility narrowed sharply in the face of political instability, economic crises, and the growing spectre of fascism.