Women's Political Participation and the 1980 Crisis in Poland
| DOI | 10.1177/019251218500600307 |
| Author | Renata Siemieʼnska |
| Published date | 01 July 1985 |
| Date | 01 July 1985 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
WOMEN’S
POLITICAL
PARTICIPATION
AND
THE
1980
CRISIS
IN
POLAND
RENATA
SIEMIENSKA
Problems besetting the Polish society in the post-war period (massive migration,
reconstruction of the country after war-time destruction, industrialization involving
high social costs, sluggish
growth
of
living standards, recuning strains and political
crises) united society more than divided it
along
sex lines. High legal equality and
fast industrialization combined with widespread occupational mobilization of women,
without, howover, ensuring their
real
equality, resulted in the emergence in some socio-
occupational groups of attitudes that at times (especially recently) are quite different
than demands
for
women’s greater social and political activity.
TRADITIONS
OF
POLISH
WOMEN’S
POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
In
economic terms, Poland was a predominantly agricultural country
before World War
11.
In cultural terms, it was
a
mosaic of diverse
cultural patterns characteristic
of
particular occupational, ethnic,
regional and religious groups.
In
most general terms, two traditions
predominated and moulded the most common personality patterns:
the class tradition (of the workers, peasants and the gentry) and the
Roman Catholic tradition.
Roman
Catholicism has had
a
special place in the cultural and
psychological makeup of the Poles. Poland’s geopolitical location lent
special importance to her ties to the Roman Catholic church, which
became an element of the national culture.
Poland’s unique economic and political history has, in the past,
prompted particular classes and strata to view the woman’s role dif-
ferently,
even
though the actual social place
of
women had many things
in common in all segments
of
society.
First
of
all, women were bousewives and mothers, charged with
looking after the home and children. However, among the landed gen-
try, women were also responsible for the patriotic upbringing
of
the
younger generation, and often ran the estate alone while their husbands
International Political Science Review,
Vol.
6
No.
3,
1985
332-346
B
1985
lntcrnational Political Science Association
332
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