The 50th birthday of the (West-) German state is obviously an excellent time to look back at its history, politics, society, and culture, and on its political successes, economic achievements and periodic set-backs.  Anniversary gatherings such as this one usually concentrate on the interest and welfare of the so called general public from a "neutral" point of view.  This point of view usually neglects gender as a category of analysis, thus rendering power differentials and relations between men and women invisible.  This symposium/conference will specifically take stock of gendered power relations and how they have changed in the Federal Republic of Germany from its inception in 1949 until 1999.           The symposium will focus on the developments and processes of gendered power relations in the Federal Republic and will discuss not only decisive historical changes, continuities and political struggles, but also the central gendered areas of social life and their cultural representations.  Using a variety of approaches we will evaluate ideological and structural beginnings of the Federal Republic, and where this country stands today after 50 years of gendered politics and women's movements.           The symposium will bring together both renowned and upcoming German and  American scholars from the fields of history, political science, sociology, and cultural studies.  The first section/panel will overview the history of gender and the position of women in the FRG and will explore central traditional definitions of women in Germany, especially as mothers, dependents, and as the 'rebuilders' and the change/continuity of these definitions.  Here the interesting questions are:  How was gender initially  conceptualized in the new democratic state and how it did develop from that point?  What space initially existed for change in basic state institutions, political parties, social structure, and the law?  What areas have witnessed improved gender equality and what areas have retained their status quo?  What were the factors leading to a change in gender relations?           The second section/panel will focus on major political struggles and policy debates in the Federal Republic that have shaped gendered power relations.  Initially, these debates and struggles seem to be the conflict and mobilization over abortion rights, employment equity, and legal reform.  However, there might be other debates whose significance only becomes clear now in retrospect.  What were the positions in these debates and what were the outcomes?  Who were the actors or factors shaping these struggles?           The third section/panel will analyze social and sociological topics such as gendered socialization of women in the FRG in employment, political participation, family, and the women's movement.  Here will be especially important to investigate the extent to which behavioral and structural changes have changed gender relations in employment, the capitalist market system and in the family.  Where in social life have gendered power relations leveled out and where do they persist and why?  And are possible developments during the last 50 years an outcome of changing socialization, women's mobilization, the rise of post material values or different structural opportunities?           The fourth section will explore gendered cultural representations and identity issues of women between 1949 and 1999 in film and literature.  Here the focus will be on the intersection of ethnic and sexual politics via changing and persisting cultural norms and ideologies in Western Germany.  How have gendered cultural representations of women changed over the last 50 years?  In what ways have literature and film narratives paralleled or contradicted the shifting political and social position of women?  How have cultural representations problematized, expanded or radicalized gendered visions about German women and men?