The DFD did not have much independence from the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED). Käte Selbmann, a member of the DFD's executive board, complained that it was "a pre-school for women, neither as central as the FDGB nor even more important than any other mass organization to women's work, and absolutely subordinate to the SED",[5] while historian Valerie Dubslaff writes that "the role of the department was therefore neither to represent the interests of women nor to promote them within the party, but to execute the political will of its leaders".[6]
Organization
The DFD was established in March 1947 and had the following official aims:
Removal of fascist ideas
Education for women
Equal rights
Fair social living conditions
Education of children in the spirit of humanism and peace
Co-operation with the international women's movement
Chairwomen of the Democratic Women's Federation of Germany