The war years (1914-1918) upended traditional gender roles in all European nations. Before the war, women's movements in Germany were growing, but still remained on the margins of society; and women's rights activists were often a target of mockery by conservatives and in the media more broadly. After the war began, however, the insatiable demand for men at the front meant that more and more women took on traditionally male jobs. This led to a pervasive ambiguity—was this shift in gender roles to be understood as subversive or patriotic?

This poem about the new phenomenon of female tram conductors appeared in an issue of the weekly magazine Wachtfeuer: deutsche Kunstblätter zum Krieg, published by the Berlin Association of Visual Artists. In 1915, the magazine published an issue entitled “Unseren deutschen Frauen” [To Our German Women] with a portrait of Empress Auguste Viktoria on the cover, which consisted of articles and images describing the sacrifices and contributions of German women on the home front. This poem, however, strikes a humorous note and describes the advantages of employing women as tram conductors: the conductor is not “broad and bulky,” but charming and smiling. And when she “refuses entry,” her gentle voice makes one feel less offended. But if you offer her something, it should not be a cigarette, but rather a small piece of candy. Such rhetoric, which emphasizes the beauty and charm of women performing this strenuous work during wartime, reflects the ideal that women always be delicate and feminine, even when they take on “men’s work.”