women in Poland is complex and contradictory. Basic legal rights and social benefits, which in the West were won only after protracted struggle, were provided by the ruling Polish United Workers Party (PUWP) after World War IL
The Polish Constitution guarantees the equality of the sexes. Abortion was legalised in 1956, on certain
"Women within the trade union Solidarnosc are
beginning to draw attention
to the special
problems of working women and to develop structures that
can address
them" Page 15
"The Polish Constitution guarantees the equality of the sexes. Abortion was legalised in 1956, on certain specified grounds, and has evolved to permit essentially abortion on demand. A system of childcare support was developed... Page 16
specified grounds, and has evolved to permit essentially abortion on demand. A system of childcare sup port was developed which included, for mothers, the right to three months paid maternity leave and leave to care for sick children (35 days per year per child) and, for either parent, the right to up to three years' parental leave, with an allowance of 40 percent of the former salary paid during the first 18 months. Pomography was legally banned. New opportunities were made available to women who wished to attend university and to study or work in traditionally male-dominated fields.
But in reality, little changed for most women. Male dominance was perpetuated in public life through the party bureaucracy and in private life through the weight of tradition reinforced by the Catholic Church. The PUP's commitment to equality existed only on paper. There were no women in top party posts and only a token management in industry. (Only quota ensured that 20 percent of party members were women.)
Women entered the workforce in record numbers to help rebuild wardevastated Poland, and currently constitute 46 percent of the workforce. (Between 70 and 80 percent of
women 20 to 30 and 45 to 50 years
old engage in paid labour.) But they
have been kept segregated in the
lowest paying. and often most
monotonous and unsafe jobs, con WHERE'S MY CLEAN SOCKS!
SUPPLEMENT centrated in the textile, food and pottery industries, the clothing trade, and education and health services. Thus, the average woman eams only 65 percent of the average man's wages.
At the same time, women have always been expected to assume full responsibility for children and the home. Recent statistical surveys show that women (i.e. wives, mothers and mothers in-law) are exclusively responsible for cooking in 94 percent of all households, for washing and ironing in over 90 percent, for mending clothes in 97 percent, and for dishwashing and other housework in 85 percent of all households.
Rather than challenging the sexual division of labour, party policies encouraged it. For instance, rather than investing in daycare centres, government urged mothers to take extended parental leave, which reinforced traditional sex roles and disadvantaged women on the labour market. Poland's perennial economic problems only increased women's burdens, as many hours had to be spent waiting in food shops lines, and cooking and cleaning had to be performed without the aid of adequate supplies or time-saving consumer ap pliances.
Despite the hardships of women's lives, the conditions did not exist for mass feminist consciousness to develop. Entering the workforce did not change most women's view of themselves as first and foremost wives and mothers. While work is a
source of self fulfilment for some, for many it is merely an economic necessity which they would happily abandon if given the chance to retur home fulltime.
Because of the party's control over information, there was no vehicle for introducing feminist ideas into society. Only one feminist text, an anthology, has been translated into Polish. The one established women's organisation, the Women's League, has been little more than a project to occupy wives of party bosses, publishing a magazine Women's Life, and providing some individual services to women, such as help in finding part-time work of child care, to justify their vast array of offices and other privileges. It promoted the party line that equality between the sexes had been achieved, which only served to discredit such ideas in the eyes of most women.
Yet women have not been entirely passive. In 1980-81, they became active in (the trade union) Solidarosc in numbers equal to men, notwithstanding their noticeable absence from the history-making photos. In those days, women saw their interests as identical to men's in the fight for economic democracy and national liberation. But even as Solidamose broadened into a mass movement of opposition, its critique of the political and social order never extended to the subordination of women. With the Church hierarchy as its strongest
ally, the leadership maintained its so-
cial conservatism.
Although the social foment of
those years made room for the emer-
gence of a feminist group at the
University of Warsaw in 1980, it
found itself isolated and unable to grow. Nevertheless, it stayed together
as a small discussion and support
group, while the women associated
with it, one by one, tried to raise the
special problems of women in their
work in Solidarosc underground and
in other emerging movements, such
as Freedom and Peace (an anti-
militarist, environmental movement).
One step forward, one
Estep back As in the west, it was the attempt
to take away women's right to con-
trol their reproductive capability
which created the conditions for
women to begin openly struggling
around their own agenda. In
February 1989, a bill was introduced
in the Sejm (the Polish parliament) to
protect the rights of the "unbom
child" not simply by outlawing aborSOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 26, July 1990
tion, but by subjecting violators - women and doctors alike - to a three year prison term! (The draft was prepared by a group of experts on behalf of the Catholic Episcopate and was presented by the Polish Catholic Social Union, with the support of conservative thinkers from within every party.)
Women all across the country were indignant. In a country where safe reliable birth control is obtainable only by chance, and neglect of the issue constitutes the national policy. many women are forced to resort to abortion as a birth control of last resort. (About 700,000 women have abortions each year, in a population of 19 million women.)
Independent women's action groups sprang up in every major city, often around universities, and undertook petitioning. Parliamentary ap peals and even street actions in defence of the existing law, including an impressive demonstration in Warsaw which drew a thousand. After being inundated with letters and phone calls, the Women's League was forced to take a stand against the proposed legislation, while Solidarnosc managed to avoid publicly stating its position. (Walesa vacillated, remarking first that people have to stop "killing each other" while later suggesting that the question is a moral one better decided by the individual conscience, not the state.) The bill died last summer before coming to a vote, but the newly formed action groups did not.
Monumental developments at the national political level were unfolding around the same time that would entirely change the political landscape in Poland. At round-table discussions, Solidamosc eventually agreed to a compromise with the ruling bureaucrats, leading to new elections in which 35 percent of the Sejm was freely chosen and a second house of Parliament, the Senate, was established in which all of the seats were freely elected. While Solidarnosc, as a trade union, could not run its own candidates, it set up a National Civic Committee (NCC) through which candidates representing a spectrum of political perspectives and backgrounds were selected SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 26, July-August 1990
SUPPLEMENT I THOUGHT ABOUT HAVING KIDS BUT CHANGED MY MIND
MURDER?! ALL I DID WAS THINK ABOUT IT! (creating an awkward relationship between the workers" organisation and the politicians which continues to this day).
When the PUWP was soundly trounced and unable to rule (none of even its uncontested candidates won a plurality), Solidamosc finally agreed to a power-sharing arrangement, under which the PUWP retained control of the army and security forces, as well as the newlyestablished post of President (filled by General Jaruzelski, who had declared martial law in 1981).
Sweeping reforms
These concessions leave Poland behind most of its neighbours in terms of establishing political democracy. Long-time Solidarnose advisor and Catholic intellectual Tadeusz. Mazowiecki was chosen as Prime Minister, and put together a government in September, 1989, which immediately embarked on a program of sweeping reform. For the first time in years, freedom to organise, to demonstrate, to publish and distribute information in the open without fear of repression or control, was possible in Poland.
These changes gave new impetus to feminists. As soon as the law on organisations was liberalised, the core of feminists moved to establish an official national organisation by registering with court as the Polish Feminist Association (PFA). (In Poland, this formality is an absolute prerequisite to securing recognition in the media and public life and concrete benefits from the state.)
At the beginning of November, a
THAT'S MURDER
LIFE BEGINS AT CONCEPTION! conference in Poznan brought together the activists from the abortion rights campaign (including PFA, independent local groups such as the Women's Club from Poznan, Women's Honor from Torun, Movement for Protecting Women's rights from Bydgoszcz, and the Polish Feminist Movement Club from Krakow, members of the Polish Socialist Party-Democratic Revolution (PPS-RD) and Freedom and Peace, and even a progressive from the Women's League) to exchange views on how to continue women's struggle.
The following week, on November 12th feminists organised a picket of the American Embassy in Warsaw, in solidarity with the thousands demonstrating in Washington that day to demand safe, legal and funded abortion. And later that same month, the first national meeting of women in Solidarose was convened to lay the groundwork for developing a women's agenda for the union.
Ironically, the very openings that made it possible for women to begin organising to advance their rights also unleashed other forces which threaten to push women even further backward. Far from taking any initiatives to improve the position of women in society, the new government has been, at best, indifferent to women" concerns and at worst, responsible for policies which sacrifice women's interests in pursuit of other aims.
Although the goverment has a "beautiful spokeswoman" (Malgorzata Niebabitowska), as Prime mini-
6)B9BOGON GLOBE WASHERMAN "many women are forced to resort to abortion as a birth control of last resort. About 700,000 women have abortions each year, in a population of 19 million women" Page 17
"Some 80 percent of those already dismissed are women, who are concentrated in the "non-essential' office jobs which are being eliminated in all sectors. Other women have been forced to quit their jobs, as the cost of daycare soars to levels exceeding their take-home pay" Page 18
ster Mazowiecki once referred to her, there is only one woman in the goverment - the Minister of Culture. In the Parliament, women are only 6 percent of the representatives elected on the NCC slate, significantly less than the 20 percent the PUWP made room for. But lack of representation is just the tip of the iceberg.
The thrust of the government's sweeping economic reform jeopardises women s interests as workers. the government's solution to the problems of the inefficient, debt-ridden Polish economy is nothing short of the reintroduction of capitalist economic relations in all sectors. As of January 1, 1990, in accordance with the IMF austerity plan, internal convertability of the zloty was introduced and a classical anti-inflation program was implemented which led to catastrophic overight prices increases.
The goal was to stabilise the economy in order to attract foreign capital and facilitate the retur to the market! The effect was to reduce living standards by 40 percent (twice the anticipated drop) and to bring back unemployment, as enterpnses go bankrupt, climinate layers of the bureaucracy, or halt production due to the drop in sales. The IMF estimates that 5 percent of the population will be unemployed by the years end.
It is no coincidence that women are the hardest hit. Some 80 percent of those already dismissed are women, who are concentrated in the "non-essential" office jobs which are being eliminated in all sectors. With less training and few transferable skills, these women will have great difficulty in finding new work. Other women have been forced to quit their jobs, as the cost of daycare soars to levels exceeding their take-home pay.
Many more mothers will lose their jobs as a result of changes on the law
which now permit employers to fire
women during their three year parental leave. The politicians are clearly
counting on women's quiescence and
political passivity to help them carry
through the most unpopular aspects
of their economic reform.
These attacks dovetail with a cam-
paign to limit women to their role as
homemakers and mothers, spear-
headed by an alliance of conservative
SUPPLEMENT These eggs 'fell off the back of a lorry in Warsaw politicians from the NCC and the newly activated right wing parties. In January, the Sejm quietly eliminated the state subsidy to the Family Development Society (formerly the Family Planning Society), a private association which was the only family planning body in the country. Less than one month later, the NCC dominated Senate sent to the Sejm proposed legislation to illegalise abortion, slightly altered from last year's failed bill. The leader of the so-called Liberal Party, Jerry KorwinMikke, has even gone so far as to suggest that the right to vote should be taken away from women, while the centre-right Union for Real Politics has urged that women's access to higher education be limited, on the theory that women are less likely to make use of their degrees!
Working women unite
While it is clear that women can only rely on themselves to defeat this array of attacks, there is little chance of building a mass independent women's movement in the near future. Women's advocates must find ways to maximise their impact, seeking to win support for pro-women policies and to mobilise women through existing institutions.
The most important institution in this period is the trade union Solidarnose. Only a strong workers' or ganisation can lead the kind of fight in the workplace and in the political arena that will be necessary to defend women's economic interests. But the union cannot be counted on to automatically play this role. Under Lech Walesa's iron hand, the top
leadership currently supports the government's pro-market policies, accepting that mass layoffs, loss of social benefits and the growth of social differentiation are the price that has to be paid to put the Polish economy back on its feet.
The internal opposition within the union lacks a strong base from which to to mount a successful challenge to this course, as the majority of Polish workers, who are expressing growing disaffection with the direction of government policy, are no longer organised in the union. (Solidarnosc has only around a tenth of the 10 million members it had in 1980-81.)
Furthermore, there is little reason to hope that a more militant union leadership would be prepared to unite its members against attacks which threaten primarily women workers. The male-dominated union has no history of attention to women's special problems, and top union leaders (including the new head of the Gdansk region and the union's female spokesperson, Barbara Malek) are on record as justifying the mass dismissals of women first.
Nor do women have any decisive influence in the union. Activists estimate that women comprise about 20-50 percent of leadership at the enterprise level, from 10-25 percent at the regional level, and have only a token representation on the National Executive Committee. (No statistics are readily available, itself an indication of the problem.)
However, women are beginning to emerge as a force to be reckoned with in the union. Due to the efforts of a SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 26, July 1990
handful of women activists and feminists, with a little help from the interational trade union movement (applied through the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), with which Solidarose is affiliated), a weeklong seminar addressed exclusively to women's issues was held in Gdansk the last week of January. (lt was one of a series of 12 seminars so-sponsored by the union with the ICFTU.)
A few dozen unionists, most of whom were leaders in their enterprises, as well as many feminist academics and activists attended the conference, which was part educa tional and part working session. The full range of material and psychological problems facing working women in Poland was outlined.
Top on the list was the fact that all working women, regardless of age, education or type of work, are saddled with all the housework and childcare after they have put in their eight plus hours on the job. As a result, women are often chronically overtired, with little time or energy to pursue further education or training. which could lead to higher paying or more rewarding work opportunities, or to become active in the union, and they suffer from feelings of inadequacy or failure. (In a survey of metal workers, 71 percent of husbands with working wives said they were satis fied with their domestic situation, while only 8 percent were satisfied.)
On the labour market, the top concem was the 35 percent pay gap separating male and female workers, which was attributed primarily to extreme job segregation and devaluation of women's work, and women's lack of advancement due to dis crimination in promotion or lack of skills improvement. Inequality in the job market resulting from discrimination in education, hiring and promotion was also identified, though this point proved controversial, with SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 26, July-August 1990
SUPPLEMENT Even basic chores like shopping are more exhausting with Polish queues primarily university-educated women stressing the problem, while others insisted that there is equal opportunity.
Hazards
In industry, where women constitute 13.2 percent of the workforce, women are exposed to an array of health and safety hazards: 63 percent work in a standing position without interruption, 50 percent are required to lift excessively heavy loads, 48 percent work with high levels of noise, 35 percent are exposed to excess dust levels, 30 percent to excessive temperatures, and 15 percent to intense vibrations. One of the most severe problems is the three shift system, which forces or induces women to work at night, leaving them in a state of utter exhaustion.
The search for realistic and ap propriate solutions to these problems proved difficult. As the very first speaker put it, the only real answer lies in reversing the centuries old tradition, passed from grandmother to mother to each new generation, that a woman's place is in the kitchen while a man's is on the shop floor.
But working women of this generation, even those motivated to fight for their rights, are so shaped by those values that they either accept or are resigned to the constraints of that socially-defined role, Thus, in the quest for more immediate solutions, many women sought to carve out special protections for women which
would only perpetuate the sexual division of labour and fuel the forces of discrimination.
Many women favoured the establishment of a maintenance allowance that would enable mothers to remain home to 'educate' their children until the age of ten, expressing concern that daycare deprived children of their "mothers" touch". Wide support was expressed for a ban on nightwork for women (which exists in many European countries) and for the right to retire with a full Ш!!! pension after 30 years of work. A prohibition on women working overtime or working with hazardous substances and a homemaker's allowance were among the other suggestions raised.
All of these proposals were ultimately dismissed on the grounds that they were financially unfeasible, would undermine the fight for equality, and were divisive, distinguishing men from women rather than uniting all workers around the fight to improve the working environment. But the fact that they were raised provides an important indication of the level of consciousness of many women that will have to be confronted in the effort to organise union women.
More appropriate policy recommendations were ultimately formulaled. The conference insisted that Rexible working hours and part time work should be made available to women at their option, and that more
*all working
women,
regardless of age, education
Tor type of work, are
saddled with
Tall the housework and childcare after they have put
in their eight plus hours on
the job. As a result, women
Ware often
chronically overtired, with
little time or
energy to pursue further
education or
Straining" Page 19
"in these days of economic crisis and austerity, advances seem unattainable. Participants expressed alarm over the potential loss of social benefits, decline in health and safety standards and weakening of the union that may result from foreign capitalist investment." Page 20
daycare centres of higher quality (i.e. lower teacher-child ratio and more flexible opening hours) should be opened, especially for children under 3 years old. It was also stressed that men had an equal responsibility for home and childcare duties, and that medical leave to care for sick children should be extended to fathers as well.
The principle of equal pay for work of equal value was endorsed, and the union was urged to take an active role in the re-evaluations currently underway in many industries and to demand special job skills training for women. In the health and safety field, it was agreed that preg nant women should have the night to protected job. while the union should prioritise the fight to climinate or minimise hazardous working conditions for all workers.
These policy recommendations provide a framework for women's struggle to improve their lives. But, in these days of economic crisis and austerity, advances seem unattainable and the pervasive concer is to keep from losing ground. Participants expressed alarm over the potential loss of social benefits (such as parental leave), decline in health and safety standards and weakening of the union that may result from the much sought after foreign capitalist investment.
But the conference stopped short of expressly prioritising the fight to defend women's jobs. On the contrary, many women were prepared to accept on principle that, if workers must be fired for the sake of improving the economy, less harm is done by dismissing women - on the assumption that women earn less money and that their income is supplementary.
Cold hard economics may transform this consciousness in the coming months. Women at the conference were adamant in their insistence that women who are in fact the primary breadwinners in their houschold, as a growing number of single and divorced women and even wives of alcoholics are, should be absolutely protected against dismissal. Inflation and the wages freeze have already
SUPPLEMENT made it next to impossible to feed a family even on two incomes, and women are not likely to passively accept the loss of their income without a fight. Thus, women are a potentially powerful force of opposition to the policies of wholesale privatisation and mass layoffs within the union.
For women to succeed in implementing their agenda, they must become more active in the union and assume leadership roles. The women Lithuanian women fight for national independence at the conference exhibited a disturbing tendency to blame themselves for the appalling lack of women in the union's leadership. Each of the five working groups reported that there were no barriers to women becoming union leaders, explaining that any woman with the interest and competence could serve. Yet problems unique to women such as lack of time and energy due to family responsibilities, lack of self-confidence, lack of experience and leadership skills and health problems were all acknowledged during the discussion. Surpris ingly. discrimination was never once identified as an obstacle, although it undeniably exists.
There was virtually unanimous agreement that a Women's Commis sion should be established to take responsibility for information gathering, education, support and advocacy on behalf of women.
Fortunately, National Executive Committee agreed and okayed a Women's Commission at the national level. This represents only a partial victory, as the commission was sought at the regional and eventually enterprise levels as well, but it proves that the leadership can be pushed to take women's demands seriously.
The real work now lies ahead. If the Commission is to avoid becoming merely a bureaucratic body or ghetto for women, it will have to activate
rank and file women.
Women's development within the union will also be affected by women's struggles on larger social and political issues. A strong independent women's movement will generate social pressure that will indirectly aid unionists in campaigning for pro-women of feminist idea will help devel of working WOr
Tally. direct support to the movewhere the new 18 made printing facilities available to Jocal women's group) and politically: the mobilisation women will be critical to the defence of women's rights, particularly in the upcoming abortion rights battles.
Moving on to feminism
On the national political front, feminists have placed a high priority on securing a strong women's representative to the govemment and pushing to make the position a meaningful one. The post was established by Poland several years ago in compliance with accords signed at the Intemational Women's Conference in Nairobi, Kenya. Soon after taking office, the Mazowiecki government fired the PUWP-appointed representative, but did not replace her.
While recognising that the rep has no real power, feminists see the post as an important vehicle for the work of autonomous women's organisations. They appealed directly to the Prime Minister to make the post truly independent, thus not accountable to any govemment ministry. Without even bothering to reply. Mazowiecki delayed some five months before finally appointing Helen Goralska, the vice-minister of the Ministry for Labour, to be the new representative,
At a 'get acquainted" session with women's advocates which she convened shortly after her appointment. Goralska confessed that she had no particular expertise in the area (she is SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 26, July-August 1990
an economist by profession) and no particular initiatives in mind, but she expressed a willingness to help. Women intend to keep her to her word. In particular, they will insist that she take an active role in the legislative process, monitoring proposed legislation affecting women and, hopefully, providing drafts to women's groups, who have leamed about certain damaging bills only after they have already become law. (PFA is also hoping to win the right to have a representative present at all committee and floor debates on such bills.)
They also expect her to support research and statistical documentation of the status of women, which is now sorely lacking. Toward that end, PFA has proposed that a Women's Roundtable be convened as a forum for publicising such information and developing policy recommendations.
Feminists are also concerned to address the lack of representation of women in government. The number of women selected by the National Civic Committee as candidates for local self-government election in March was no better that in the national elections last summer. Some feminists were exploring the feasibility of running candidates as part of an alternative slate. Zuzanna Dabrowska, a leader of PPS-RD and member of the Polish Feminist Association, was one such potential candidate.
To admit to being a feminist in Poland is tantamount admitting having the plague. Many of the few women prominent in public life, including writers and academics, go to great lengths to disassociate themsel ves from feminism. (Ironically, although the sociologist responsible for the one Polish feminist anthology did not consider herself a feminist, and was using the texts to illustrate a completely unrelated theory about human social behaviour, her reputation was ruined by the project.) Such women, like the eye surgeon who is the mother of a leading feminist activist, regret the price they paid for their careers and urge their own daughters to follow a more traditionSOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 26, July-August 1990
SUPPLEMENT al, family-oriented path. the new women's groups want to tackle that taboo head on, embracing the term feminist and endeavouring to give it new meaning.
In this project, the personal must be made political by subjecting to reexamination all aspects of women's Carol* Simpsnu 6 experience, from the sacred - marriage, motherhood, family - to the taboo - sexuality and lesbianism, rape and incest, violence against women. Ideologically, the cult of motherhood is being nurtured these days, while the sexual objectification of women is becoming more Pronounced.
Pornography, which is still officially illegal, arrived several years ago with the market reforms and is now spreading like wildfire, a symbol of Poland's 'modemisation'. In the year that Miss Poland reign as Miss World, calendars of nude women in degrading poses are produced by state companies, prominently marketed in state-run department stores and bookshops, and found hanging on most office walls, even in tourist bureaus and police departments. Female strippers are becoming commonplace in regular discos and scantily clad women predominate in the new TV advertising.
The Church, which has done its best to suppress any discussion of sex, even forcing a lone school book on sexuality off shelves and out of print, has lost its tongue when it comes to the new pom. Women, including strict Catholics, who already
express dismay at the enforced ignorance and guilt which surrounds sex, will be further alienated as the Madonna-whore duality 18 strengthened. The sexual violence and harrassment which women have always been subjected to, especially women out alone in the evening,is
Yes, this is a two career household. Unfortunately, I have both careers. reportedly getting worse. But guilt and shame still inhibit most women from discussing such "private" matters.
Despite the much hailed freedom of the press which now exists, many feel that a new form of self-censorship, an "inner moral control" shaped by Catholic ethics, makes the environment even more hostile to discussion in these matters. Though it is not yet feasible to think of producing their own feminist publication, they are using all other means at their dis Posal.
In March, in the university town of Krakow, academics and activists from across the country were invited to address the subject "Motherhood: duty or free choice?' at a public seminar organised by a lone graduate student (who is active in PFA). Other local groups hope to organise similar seminars in the future. PFA is trying to build up its collection of feminist texts and to develop a system of circulation that will provide greater access to the works.
Women occasionally make presentations on books they have read, in part because all are in foreign languages. In Poznan, the Women's Club has just negotiated the right to temporarily house their books in the
"Ideologically, the cult of motherhood is being nurtured these days, while the sexual objectification of women is becoming more pronounced." Page 21
GRAFIA ZAWSKA "Women who choose to remain single are often treated as social outcasts... the chronic shortage of housing forces many to remain in their parent's home for years" Page 22
NL SGP: American Consulate library, which is open to the public, and has also managed to secure several radio interviews.
Another important goal of the feminist movement is to create space where women can feel comfortable talking about their personal experien ces. Given a supportive environment, many women are eager to discuss aspects of their lives about which they have long been silent - whether it be disrespect and harassment on the job, their fear of men, psychological or physical abuse in their intimate relationships, the constraints of married life, or the alienation and frustration experienced by all women who refuses to play by the rules. In the process, women emerge from their isolation and begin to see the commonality in their situations, developing the solidarity which will provide a foundation for united political action. They also begin to understand the extent to which women psychologically adapt to and perpetuate patriarchal institutions. In their own lives, it is often women (mothers, grandmothers and female teachers) who have been most directly responsible for restrictions on their freedom - limiting them to "girl's" activities, forcing them to assume domestic duties (from which brothers were exempt), underrating their intelligence or dismissing their ambitions, pushing them to get married and preaching to them about conduct appropriate for a wife. From
SUPPLEMENT (NE 1 such exchange women also derive support which is hard to find in everyday life.
Other women have even more ambitious ideas about developing women's culture. Women who choose to remain single have an especially tough row to hoe. Not only are they often treated as social outcasts, suddenly finding themselves excluded from social gatherings of their married friends, but the chronic shortage of housing and priority system which favours married couples with children forces many to remain uncomfortably in their parent's home for years. Por lesbians, the stigmatisation is even more severe.
One women's community in Krakow provides an alternative for such women. More than 75 years ago, a group of single career women established a women's residence which provides living space in a communal environment for several dozen women. While in recent years it has increasingly been occupied by divorced women merely seeking an affordable place to live, a feminist activist, who will soon be moving in, hopes to revive its character as a supportive space for women who consciously embrace single life, and even possibly to develop it into a centre for women in the community.
Feminists are not lacking in creative ideas for the future. Some are already talking about the need to organise self-defence classes for
HiSTOR women. The graduate student from Krakow dreams of seeing a regular seminar series established at the university at which participants could cam credit, as a first step to the development of women's studies in Poland. (A seminar on feminism offered over the past decade at the University of Warsaw by Renata Siemienska, a sociologist who has served at UNESCO as an expert on women in Poland, has helped to educate and inspire many of those who arc now becoming active in the women's movement.) A lawyer from Warsaw wants to concentrate on developing anti-racist discrimination laws and enforcement procedures, while a teacher has a particular interest in improving health care for women. Some hope eventually to begin a feminist publication, while several are interested in translating into Polish and publishing women's literature and feminist theory.
Success will depend in part on the ability of the young groups to strengthen themselves organisationally. At present, little more than a handful of activists is assuming responsibility for an overwhelming amount of work, and many are already spread thin by other political activities in PPS-RD, Freedom and Peace or Solidamose. (All but a few of the feminists who came together in Warsaw in 1980 are now living abroad.) Local groups have largely been functioning independently. SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 26, July-August 1990
the feminist faces its formerly organisation, ticularly Women's lost Having backing of bureaucracy women's rights. The new feminist groups are hand- icapped by their lack of resources and of an established base from which to SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 26, July 1990
last A patronising premier: Mazowieckl
SUPPLEMENT operate, problems not casily solved. not yet known if and when the antiAs soon as PFA was legally recog abortion bill will be taken up by the nised, it attempted to arrange a meet- Sejm, and opinion is divided on ing with the cabinet minister respon- whether it has any chance of passage.
partisan Ironically, the fact that the Sejm was organisations and for doling out pre- not freely elected and is still cious office space, which is otherwise dominated by members from the now unobtainable or unaffordable. when dismantled PUWP (which split into Minister Hall finally agreed to a two "social democratic" parties in meeting, after months of dodging February) makes it more likely that their requests, he sent in his place a the anti-abortion measure will be female official who was in her second defeated this time around. (The week with the ministry and had Speaker of the Sejm was formerly asneither the knowledge nor the power sociated with the Family Planning
Society.) In the long run, the position adopted by Solidamose and its allies in govemment will be critical. Its leaders are widely thought to anti-abortion and it is feared that they may support regressive Proposal in order to pay back their loyalty to the Church. The Church is pulling out all the stops in its anti-abortion campaign, resorting to appeals from the to assist them. If and when they aare pulpit and given office space, they will have to propaganda displays set up in confront the problem of how to pay chapels. The prospect of Poland be-
coming another Ireland is many
PFA's difficulties may be exacer- women's greatest fear. But there are bated by its reluctance to formalise its also indications that even loyal organisational structures, not surpris- Catholics are not prepared to follow ing after years of living under the iron the Church on this issue. Many are hand of a male-dominated, hierarchic becoming annoyed with the Church's bureaucracy. At present, there is no ever more bold intrusions into secular formal membership or affiliation affairs. (The introduction of a procedure, no clear leadership, no chaplain in Parliament and masses on regularly convened meetings or for- television are but the most obvious mal mechanism for decision making. examples.) Catholicism has never and no system of dues or other prevented most women from using regular source of funding. birth control or having abortions, as
The frenzy of activity of the past evidenced by he predominance of months has left little time to devote two child households. Even among expressly to outreach, but it has laid those with moral objections to abor an important foundation for incor- tion, many believe the question must porating new women into the move- be resolved by the individual conment, particularly union activists and science not the political process. university students. Some groups are Such sentiments will not now tuming their attention more to automatically translated into public public events, such as seminars, in opposition to the proposed bill, as order to attract such women. Other guilt and social pressure often cause women may be drawn to discussion many to keep quiet about their difand support groups. ferences with the Church. But such
The struggles ahead reticence may be overcome as the
danger posed by the anti-abortion
In the near future, the threat to abortion rights is certain to occupy forces becomes more obvious. centre stage in women's struggle. It is University women can be expected to
"The Church is pulling out all the stops in its anti-abortion campaign, resorting to appeals from the pulpit and propaganda displays set up in chapels. The prospect of Poland becoming another Ireland is many women's greatest fear" Page 23
"The stakes are high; it is not simply a question of restrictions on their economic interests and the but of loss of anti-abortion legis one right lation. While it is unrealistic to think which is more that the protected might adopt a pro- than in the choice stance, the pressure applied by West. The union women will outcome will be critical in at also show least preventing the leadership whether the openly supporting new era in the Poland will legislation. Other allies may be won awaken from among those women to who are concerned defend their right wing interests or will pacity them as never before" Page 24
SUPPLEMENT Breaking free from the stalinist stereotype be a particularly militant source of opposition, as indicated by the leading role they played in several street actions last spring. Working women may become more vocal as they come to see the connection between attacks THE GOOD NEWS IS I SAW GORBACHEV IN THE SUPERMARKET. THE BAO NEWS THE LAST IS HE TOOK 36 CANS OF PORK union AND BEANS ! from reactionary to check the power of the nationalist
The stakes are high; it is not simply a question of restrictions but of loss of one right which is more protected than in the West. The outcome will also be an important indication of whether the new era in Poland will awaken women to the need to or
ganise to defend their interests or will pacify them as never before.
The answer to that question will be linked to the larger political developments, In theory, the disintegration of the old order presents historic opportunities for a social transformation aimed at establishing a true political and economic democracy. But in marked contrast to the mass mobilisation of 1980-81, when the majority of working people participated in constructing a new union and workers' councils which were to be the infrastructure of a future self-managed republic, the process is now
the hands of the in politicians and 'experts". Walesa's Christian democratic wing, which has the upper hand over the so- cial democratic and smaller radical wings of the move- ment, is not attempting to find a new middle road but is leading the country fimly down a Westem-oriented capitalist path. Rather than seeking to organise working people or actively involve them in their union or in grassroots politics, political leaders preaching are disciplined restraint and cooperation their economic program in an effort to at- foreign investors. tract Many are alarmed at the all- too familiar conservative at- mosphere in which criticism is discouraged as irrespon- sible and unpatriotic. The majority is currently accept- ing this state of affairs, despite considerable grum- bling, in part because of the chronic resignation which set in after martial law was declared a decade ago. In this environment, there is a real risk that women will feel defeated by the attacks against them and passively accept their fate. Mass resistance by women is only likely to develop if and when the growing dis content of all working STAYSKAL people is translated into a political struggle to protect their interests. A general radicalisa- tion would only be the first step for women. Nothing short of revolution in conscious ness will have to occur before the majority of women will be ready to take up the fight to change their position in society. This will not happen ovemight. In the meantime, the projects to defend women's rights and change women's thinking being patiently pursued by feminists and women's activists may achieve limited yet sig- nificant advances for women while paving the way for development of a broader women's movement. This is just the beginning of a new round in the long uphill struggle for liberation which women in Poland share with women around the world. SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 26, July-August 1990
The