Kinder, Küche, Kirche

Kinder, Küche, Kirche (German pronun­cia­tion: [ˈkɪndɐ ˈkʏçə ˈkɪʁçə]), or the 3 Ks, is a German slogan translated as “children, kitchen, church”. It now has a mostly derogatory connotation, describing of what is seen as an antiquated female role model in contemporary Western society. The phrase is vaguely equivalent to the English "barefoot and pregnant".

The origins of the phrase are normally attributed either to the last German Emperor Wilhelm II, or to his first wife, Empress Augusta Victoria. She is likely to have adopted it from one of several similar German "sayings by number". The most suggestive of these is listed in the second volume of German proverbs Glossary: A treasure house of the German people published in 1870 by Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Wander: "Vier K gehören zu einem frommen Weib, nemlich, dass sie Achtung gebe auff die Kirche, Kammer, Kuche, Kinder." - "Four K's are requisite of a pious woman, namely, that she keeps regard for church, chamber, kitchen, children." Wander refers for the origins of this saying to a 16th-century commentary on Sirach by Johannes Mathesius. He also lists another similar phrase: "Eine gute Hausfrau hat fünf K zu besorgen: Kammer, Kinder, Küche, Keller, Kleider." - "A good housewife has to take care of five K: chamber, kids, kitchen, cellar, clothes," which appeared first in the 1810 collection of the German proverbs Die weisheit auf der gasse: oder Sinn und geist deutscher sprichwörter - The wisdom of the streets; or, meaning and spirit of German proverbs by Johann Michael Sailer. In 1844 "The newspaper for the German Nobility" published this latter saying in its traditional last page "feature" short statements.

The phrase started to appear in its current form in writing in the early 1890s. "After Germany, where women apparently take no interest in public affairs, and seem to obey to the letter the young emperor's injunction "Let women devote themselves to the three K's, -- die Küche, die Kirche, die Kinder" (kitchen, church, and children), the active interest and influence of English women on all great questions were refreshing." wrote Marie C. Remick in A Woman's Travel-notes on England in 1892. The phrase then was used multiple times throughout the 1890s in liberal writing and speeches.

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