In the poll assessing women’s professional careers, 374 votes were cast. It shows that 58% of respondents consider women’s careers self-evident. 28% of voters want women to combine professional work with household responsibilities, while 14% of voters would prefer them to find fulfilment solely at home. The poll reflects Poles’ views on women’s professional work. Polish men and women have changed their perspective on the traditional role of women. Fewer and fewer people believe that a woman should be solely the guardian of the home.
When women do not take up professional work, it is most often not because they want to devote themselves to their children and husbands. They are forced to do so by the situation on the labour market. According to CBOS research, between 1993 and 2006 the proportion of women who believed that professional work brought women more benefits than losses to family life increased. One in three women would not give up professional work even if her husband could support her and the children.
According to a report presented at the Women’s Congress in 2009, women’s situation and their perception in the labour market improved after Poland joined the European Union. This is connected with the introduction of an EU policy principle stating that a woman has the same right to take up professional work, and on the same terms, as a man.
Women took advantage of the opportunities offered by the market economy and became self-employed. Poland is among the European leaders in terms of the number of women among entrepreneurs.
Nevertheless, the belief that a woman should give up her professional career to care for a child remains very strong. Children in the family are still considered women’s responsibility. More than 90% of women and men say that the wife is responsible for supervising the child, providing care, preventive healthcare and looking after sick children. The term “unpaid women’s work in the household” remains exotic to many. Women’s household duties are considered a “natural” attribute of their role in the family.
(information ii/Report of the Polish Women’s Congress 2009)