es have required an enormous teameffort on the part of all involved -- industry, government and especially the citizens of East andWest Germany. These achievements have been possible because the people in Germanys Easternstates have demonstrated in exemplary ways self-initiative and a willingness to adjust. They havefrequently had to learn new skills, move to other towns, or even accept the loss of their jobs[10th anniversary of German unification -- A review of the progress made in bringing livingstandards in the eastern section of the country into line with those in the west].When the countries reunified, West Germany?s first task was to improve the East?s infrastructureenormously. The West has helped to created more than half a million new companies withapproximately 3.2 million employees in the East. Since the East became part of the unitedGermany, it became part of the European Union. That meant that the businesses were able to getaccess to all of the European markets for importing and exporting their goods. The West havealso invested roughly $100 billion annually since reunification, to bring the East up to the samestandards as the West. Every working person from the West has to pay 2% of their monthlyincome into a special fund which is used to rebuild the former East Germany.During the communist regime the status of women was different than that it is nowbecause they were treated equally to men. They received a year?s paid maternity leave, free day-care centres and free abortion on demand. [William Elliot, pg. 13]. The men and women wereboth paid equally. They, furthermore, had their workers holidays, low rents, free dental care andfree medicare. Under the new government all of that is gone. This has been replaced by theawareness of a completely different lifestyle that is so different from everything they knew.These things have changed: Many women have lost their former jobs; those who do work cannotfind day-care for their kids...
