As Germany celebrates the fall of the Berlin Wall 35 years ago on Nov. 9 1989, women look back at how different their lives were under communism in East and capitalism in West Germany. In the East, women were encouraged to work, childcare was easily available and women enjoyed a degree of independence and equality that women in West Germany could only dream of. There, women were expected to fulfill traditional role models and stay at home and take care of the children and household. Today, more than three decades after Germany's unification, a new generation of women in a united Germany is barely aware of the different lives their mothers and grandmothers lived. For most, combining work and motherhood has become the normal way of life.
