Women\u27s Studies Research Centers: Report from West Germany

The German autonomous women\u27s movement grew out of the student movement in the late sixties. Today, there are women\u27s centers in most of the larger German cities. The women active in these centers have created a variety of projects, such as homes for battered women, bookstores, publishing firms, restaurants, journals, and health clinics. In addition, there are numerous women\u27s groups in the political parties, the trade unions, the media, and other organizations—apart from the traditional women\u27s organizations—who work for the elimination of discrimination against women without necessarily identifying themselves with all the tenets of radical feminists. A gradual rapprochement of the autonomous groups and other women\u27s groups can be seen at this point once again, as it was during the (unsuccessful) fight for a free abortion law in 1970