Role rodzinne i zawodowe kobiet wiejskich w Polsce w XIX–XXI wieku
Family and Vocational Roles of Rural Women in Poland from the 19th to the 21st Century

Author(s): Krystyna Leśniak-Moczuk
Subject(s): Cultural history, Studies of Literature, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: rural women; family roles; vocational roles; traditional society; modern society; post-modern society
Summary/Abstract: The purpose of the paper is to compare the family and vocational social roles of rural women participating in the process of the clash between traditions and modernization, from the post-manumission village in the capitalist economy through rural local communities in the period of socialism to contemporary open rural areas in the market economy. The paper presents the changing nature of the roles of wife and mother, carer and housewife in the family sphere, the owner and the labour force in the farm, full-time employee and business woman in the vocational sphere. The differences in the degree of burden in the family roles and the transformation of professional status of rural women resulted from objective political, economic, technological and cultural conditions in the changing types of societies. The highest level of burdening women with household tasks combined with farm responsibilities was found in the patriarchal family in traditional rural communities. Technical progress, economic development and political ideology in the industrial society influenced a new sphere of women’s vocational activity outside agriculture. The market economy has created opportunities for the independence of women in business, while demographic trends and institutional complementation of family functions reduced the scope of responsibilities in the family sphere.

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