Introduction

This chapter investigates women and the Polish state, in the context of debates around gender in post-communist societies. The political questions of the post-communist era have tended to focus on issues of participation and identity, especially feminist identity, or the lack of it. But the state under communism was a major provider of services whether directly or through state-owned companies. How do mothers perceive the changes towards a liberal state, preoccupied with marketisation and with reducing public expenditure? Does the lack of participation reflect a lack of trust and interest in the state and a disjunction between public politics and women in households? And does a lack of feminist identity in Poland and other post-communist societies mean that women do not associate themselves with movements to develop policies for equality in work and the family?

Issues of participation and identity are crucial. The development of liberal democracy in Poland is a development from which women have been largely excluded, with low representation in the new institutions and little voice. Compared with the communist era, when it was regulated by quotas, women's representation has radically diminished (Pető et al, 2004). However, women's movements have developed in civil society in Poland in the space created since the transition from soviet domination and from martial law. In the period since 1989, women's groups have been developing to defend abortion rights, freedom from violence, and equality in legislation (Fuszara, 1997, 2000a, 2000b, 2000c, 2000d). But “optimism about women’s participation in politics should be tempered by the reality that most decisions that affect women, and that shape women's situations and opportunities, continue to be made in traditionally defined, maledominated political bodies” (Fuszara, 2000b, p 261). In Poland, 94% of senior government ministers are male, as are 78% Members of Parliament (see Chapter Two and Table 2.8). Governments in the region lack a true commitment to gender equality politics and, in Poland in particular, efforts to enact equal opportunity legislation have been unsuccessful (Jalusic and Antic, 2000a, 2000b; Siemieńska, 2000). Liberalisation in practice has brought men into positions of power through democratic processes but it has not brought many women into key decision-making positions (Regulska, 1998, 2001).