Introduction

This chapter investigates Polish policy towards the family, in the context of the opposing family models outlined in the previous chapter. To what extent do changes in the post-communist period represent a change from a dual earner, egalitarian model in which both partners have paid employment, to a traditional male breadwinner model, in which the man supports the family and the woman runs the household and cares for the children? Is the egalitarian model more common in rhetoric than in reality? Can women and men balance work and family in Poland, or do women reconcile work and family while men focus on their paid employment? What is the direction of change at state and household levels: a return to tradition in the wake of communism, or a more complicated mixture, affected by developments in civil society and the European Union as well as reaction against the communist past?

The family in Poland has always been highly valued both by individuals and society. This distinctive meaning of the family was bound up with the history and tradition of Polish society. Undeniably, the family was of great importance in transmitting and forming social values. In various periods of Polish history it was the family that was the most important element of cultural and national stability among the Polish people. The position of the family was strengthened by the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. This doctrine explicitly emphasised the constancy of marriage and family, the value of the family as a whole, and differentiated gender roles of family members.

In the post-Second World War period, both the Roman Catholic Church and communism reinforced the family and its role in society. The Roman Catholic Church favoured the traditional family form: changes in this form were perceived as indicating a profound crisis. The Church's attitude was submitted to critical examination by the Subcommittee of Episcopal Experts on Women's Priesthood in a report published in the mid-1980s (Siemieńska, 1996, p 22). Communism also reinforced the family, making the family a place of refuge from the pressures of the surrounding world. This was easy and natural because the family had always been important in Polish society (Siemieńska, 1996, p 22).