The surplus woman : unmarried in Imperial Germany 1871 1918 The alte Jungfer Sexology and the single woman Imagined demography The maternal spirit Moderate activism : Helene Lange and Alice Salomon Radical reform : Helene Stöcker Ruth Bré and Lily Braun Socialism and singleness : Clara Zetkin Spiritual salvation : Elisabeth Gnauck Kühne The first German womens movement embraced the belief in a demographic surplus of unwed women known as the Frauenberschuß as a central leitmotif in the campaign for reform. Proponents of the female surplus held that the advances of industry and urbanization had upset traditional marriage patterns and left too many bourgeois women without a husband. This book explores the ways in which the realms of literature sexology demography socialism and female activism addressed the perceived plight of unwed women