Abstract

The paper traces the entrance of German women into the chemistry profession from the 1890s to 1925, examining how they first overcame social and cultural conservatism to obtain access to opportunities for a chemical education during the later Kaiserreich, then began to seek academic and industrial careers and to establish a professional organization in the face of resistance from the established Verein Deutscher Chemiker. The paper examines the effect of World War I and the advent of the Weimar Republic in completing the process whereby German women achieved a small but significant role in the profession of chemistry, in science as well as industry. Finally, it discusses the considerable limitations on women’s full and equal participation that still remained by 1925.