The roles of German women construct changed throughout history, as a culture as well as society in which they lived had undergone various transformations. Historically, as well as presently, a situation of women differed between German regions, notably during the 20th century, when there was a different political & socioeconomic agency in West Germany compared to East Germany. In addition, Southern Germany has a history of strong Roman Catholic influence.
Family law in West Germany, had, until recently, assigned women a subordinate role in relation to their husbands. It was only in 1977 that legislative changes reported for gender equality in marriage; until that date, married women in West Germany could non do without permission from their husbands. In East Germany, however, women had more rights.
In 1977, the fault based divorce system to one that is primarily no fault. These new divorce regulations, which advance in force today throughout Germany, stipulate that a no-fault divorce can be obtained on the grounds of one year of de facto separation if both spouses consent, and three years of de facto separation if only one spouse consents. There is also provision for a "speedy divorce" which can be obtained on demand by either spouse, without the fundamental separation period, if this is the proved in court that the continuation of the marriage would cost an unreasonable hardship for the petitioner for reasons related to the behavior of the other spouse; this exemption requires exceptional circumstances and is considered on a case-by-case basis.
In recent years, in Germany, as in other Western countries, there has been a rapid increase in unmarried cohabitation and births external of marriage. As of 2014, 35% of births in Germany were to unmarried women. There are, however, marked differences between the regions of the former West Germany and East Germany: significantly more children are born out of wedlock in eastern Germany than in western Germany: in 2012, in eastern Germany 61.6% of births were to unmarried women, but in western Germany only 28.4%.
The views on sexual self-determination, as it relates to marriage, have also changed: for instance, until 1969, adultery was a criminal offense in West Germany. It was only in 1997, however, that Germany removed its marital exemption from its rape law, being one of the last Western countries to do so, after a lengthy political battle that started in the 1970s. Specifically, before 1997, the definition of rape in Germany was: "Whoever compels a woman to have extramarital intercourse with him, or with a third person, by force or the threat of proposed danger to life or limb, shall be punished by non less than two years’ imprisonment". In 1997 there were changes to the rape law, broadening the definition, creating it gender-neutral, and removing the marital exemption. Before, marital rape could only be prosecuted as "Causing bodily harm" item 223 of the German Criminal Code, "Insult" ingredient 185 of the German Criminal code and "Using threats or force to cause a grown-up to do, suffer or omit an act" Nötigung, Section 240 of the German Criminal script which carried lower sentences, and were rarely prosecuted.