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Female Breadwinners in State Socialism: The Value of Women's Work for Wages in Post-Stalinist Poland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2019

Natalia Jarska Open the ORCID record for Natalia Jarska [Opens in a new window]
Natalia Jarska*
Affiliation:
Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences, Rynek Starego Miasta 29/31, 00-272 Warsaw, Poland
*
njarska@ihpan.edu.pl
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Abstract

This article examines popular opinion about women's wage work in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Poland, using letters to institutions and sociological research from this period. It introduces the notion of female breadwinning as a useful category to describe the understanding of women's wage work under state socialism. Opinions on women's wage work varied, but all of them were based on gender assumptions. Women's and men's work were valued differently. Men's work had an indisputable, independent position. Women's work was evaluated in the context of family. Women could be breadwinners, but not equal to male ones; their wage work was perceived as secondary.

Type
Article
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 28 , Issue 4 , November 2019 , pp. 469 - 483
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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References

1 Biuletyn nr 23/191, 27 Apr. 1957, 237/XX/22, Komitet Centralny Polskiej Zjednoczonej Partii Robotniczej [Central Committee of Polish United Worker's Party, KC PZPR], Archiwum Akt Nowych [New Documents Archive, AAN], Warsaw, 22. Władysław Gomułka was the first secretary of the Central Committee of Polish United Worker's Party (Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza; PZPR) in the years 1956–70.

2 About the ‘Thaw’ in Poland see: Machcewicz, Paweł, ‘The Polish 1956’, in Fink, Carole, Hadler, Frank, Schramm, Tomasz, eds., 1956: European and Global Perspectives (Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2006), 141–91Google Scholar.

3 Fidelis, Malgorzata, Women, Communism, and Industrialization in Post-war Poland (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010)Google Scholar.

4 Warren, Tracey, ‘Conceptualizing Breadwinning Work’, Work, Employment, and Society, 21, 2 (2007), 317–36CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 Angélique Janssens, ‘The Rise and Decline of the Male Breadwinner Family? An Overview of the Debate’, International Review of Social History, 42, S5 (1997), 1–23.

6 Susan Zimmermann, ‘Gender Regime and Gender Struggle in Hungarian State Socialism’, Aspasia, 4 (2010), 6.

7 Francisca de Haan, ‘Women as the “Motor of Modern Life”’: Women's Work in Europe West and East since 1945’, in Joanna Regulska and Bonnie G. Smith, eds., Women and Gender in Post-War Europe. From Cold War to European Union (London: Routledge: 2012), 87–103.

8 Jill Massino, ‘Constructing the Socialist Worker: Gender, Identity and Work under State Socialism in Brasov, Romania’, Aspasia, 3 (2009), 131–60; Eszter Zsofia Toth, ‘“My Work, My Family, and My Car”: Women's Memories of Work, Consumerism, and Leisure in Socialist Hungary’, in Jill Massino and Shana Penn, eds., Gender Politics and Everyday Life in State Socialist Eastern and Central Europe (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), 33–44; Fidelis, Women, Communism.

9 Zimmermann, Gender Regime, 5.

10 Lynne Haney, ‘From Proud Worker to Good Mother: Women, the State, and Regime Change in Hungary’, Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, 14, 3 (1994), 113–50.

11 Christine von Oertzen and Almut Rietzschel, ‘Comparing the Post-War Germanies: Breadwinner Ideology and Women's Employment in the Divided Nation, 1948–1970’, International Review of Social History, 42, S5 (1997), 175–96.

12 Malgorzata Fidelis, ‘Equality through Protection: The Politics of Women's Employment in Postwar Poland, 1945–1956’, Slavic Review, 63, 2 (2004), 301–24. Fidelis, Women, Communism.

13 Eva Fodor, Working difference. Women's Working Lives in Hungary and Austria, 1945–1995 (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003), 150.

14 Natalia Jarska, Kobiety z marmuru. Robotnice w Polsce w latach 1945–1960 [Women of Marble. Female blue-collar workers in Poland in the years 1945–1960] (Warsaw: Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, 2015), 106–18. More on benefits for working mothers see Piotr Perkowski, ‘Wedded to Welfare? Working Mothers and the Welfare State in Communist Poland’, Slavic Review, 76, 2 (2017), 455–80.

15 Joanna Goven,’ Gender and Modernism in a Stalinist State’, Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, 9, 1 (Mar. 2002), 8.

16 Percentage of children attending childcare facilities in Poland was the lowest among state socialist countries both in the 1960s and 1970s, and in 1973 in reached only about 25 per cent (whereas in neighboring Czechoslovakia it was 35 percent and in East Germany 60 per cent). Perkowski, ‘Wedded to Welfare?’. Paid maternity leave in Poland lasted twelve weeks and was extended to sixteen in 1972 (one-year unpaid leave introduced in 1968), while in Czechoslovakia it was eighteen, extended to twenty-two weeks in 1964 and to twenty-six in 1968.

17 As Christine von Oertzen and Almut Rietzschel have observed, opinions expressed by state officials in East Germany revealed persistent traditional understanding of gender, in spite of official gender equality principle. It was reflected in the language, as women's family roles were called ‘duties’. These observations are true also for Polish state and party officials, especially after 1955. That is why I decided to include opinions expressed by state officials on closed meetings as part of popular opinion, different from the official public discourse expressed in laws and speeches. Oertzen and Rietzschel, ‘Comparing the Post-War Germanies’, 186.

18 Maria Bucur, Rayna Gavrilova, Wendy Goldman, Maureen Healy, Kate Lebow and Mark Pittaway, ‘Six Historians in Search of Alltagsgeschichte’, Aspasia 3, 1 (2009), 189–212.

19 Małgorzata Mazurek, ‘Between Sociology and Ideology: Perception of Work and Sociologist Advisors in Communist Poland, 1956–1970’, Revue d'histoire en sciences humaines (Dossier: Quelle sociologie derrière le ‘rideau de fer’?), 16, 1 (2007), 11–31.

20 Martin K. Dimitrov, ‘Tracking Public Opinion Under Authoritarianism: The Case of the Soviet Union During the Brezhnev Era’, Russian History, 41 (2014), 329–56.

21 Sheila Fitzpatrick, Tear Off the Mask! Identity and Imposture in Twentieth-Century Russia (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005), 172.

22 One of the convincing examples of the use of letters during the ‘Thaw’ is the case of letters about abortion. Barbara Klich-Kluczewska, Rodzina, tabu i komunizm w Polsce [The family, taboo, and Communism in Poland] (Kraków: Libron, 2016). Recent study on methodological approaches to letters to the authorities in state socialist Poland: Dariusz Jarosz, Ewelina Szpak, Krzysztof Gajewski, Anna Adamus, Grzegorz Miernik, Kovacs Csaba, eds., Listy do władzy 1945–1989 (Warszawa: IH PAN, 2019).

23 For the immediate post-war period there are different statistics available, and it is not possible to give exact figures of women's employment. However, the growth of women's participation in wage work was recognised and widely discussed after the war. Jarska, Kobiety z marmuru, 45–9.

24 Fidelis, Women, Communism.

25 Jarska, Kobiety z marmuru, 106–18.

26 Fidelis, Women, Communism, ch. 5.

27 Fidelis, Women, Communism.

28 Natalia Jarska, ‘Gender and Labour in Post-War Communist Poland. Female Unemployment 1945–70’, Acta Poloniae Historica, 110 (2014), 49–85.

29 Jarska, Kobiety z marmuru, 233.

30 Ibid., 263.

31 Ibid., 209.

32 Zbigniew Drozdek and Anna Preiss-Zajdowa, Stosunek kobiet do pracy zawodowej (Warszawa, 1962), TNS OBOP Archive, Warsaw, 27.

33 Jarska, Kobiety z marmuru, 244.

34 Hanna Strzemińska, ‘Praca a dom w świetle badań budżetu czasu’ [Work and home in the light of a study on time budget], in Antonina Kłoskowska, Jerzy Piotrowski, Krystyna Wrochno-Stanke, eds., Kobieta, praca, dom. Problemy pracy zawodowej kobiet i rodziny współczesnej. Materiały z konferencji naukowej zorganizowanej przez Zarząd Główny Ligi Kobiet w dniach 25–27 marca 1965 r. [Woman, work, home. Problems of women's professional work and contemporary family. Materials from a conference organised by the League of Women], (Warszawa, 1967), 380–2.

35 Jarska, Kobiety z marmuru, 251.

36 Katherine Lebow, Unfinished Utopia. Nowa Huta, Stalinism, and Polish Society 1949–56 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2013).

37 Drozdek and Zajdowa, Stosunek kobiet.

38 Claire Duchen, Women's Rights and Women's Lives in France, 1944–1968 (London: Psychology Press, 1994).

39 Natalia Jarska, ‘Rural Women, Gender Ideologies, and Industrialization in State Socialism: The Case of a Polish Factory in the 1950s’, Aspasia, 9 (2015), 65–86.

40 Jarska, Kobiety z marmuru, 56–7.

41 Drozdek and Zajdowa, Stosunek kobiet.

42 Jerzy Piotrowski, ed., Struktura robotniczej załogi w jednej z fabryk warszawskich [The structure of workers’ community in a Warsaw factory] (Warsaw: Centralny Instytut Ochrony Pracy, 1961), 147.

43 ‘Rozpoczynamy dyskusję o zatrudnieniu (wypowiedź Marii Jaszczuk)’ [We begin a discussion on employment (Maria Jaszczuk's voice)], Kobieta i Życie [Women and Life] 34 (1956), 2.

44 Magdalena Gawin, ‘Głosy krytyczne w sprawie pracy zawodowej kobiet 1918–1939 (w świetle publicystyki)’ [Critical voices on women's professional work in the years 1918–1939], in Anna Żarnowska and Andrzej Szwarc, eds., Kobieta i praca. Wiek XIX i XX [Woman and work: 19th and 20th Centuries] (Warsaw: DiG, 2000), 314–5.

45 Biuletyn nr 8/176, 1957, 237/XXV-21, KC PZPR, AAN, 89–90.

46 Wesołowski, ed., Ankieta o stosunku do redukcji (opracowanie częściowe) [Poll on the attitudes towards the reductions of employment] (Warszawa, 1958), TNS OBOP Archive.

47 Biuletyn nr 34, May 1958, 1050/24, Ośrodek Dokumentacji i Zbiorów Programowych TVP [Archive of the Centre of Documentation and Program Collection of the Polish Television, ODiZP TVP], Warsaw, 7.

48 Piotrowski, Struktura, 138–9.

49 Ibid., 138.

50 Biuletyn nr 8/176, 1957, 237/XXV-21, KC PZPR, AAN, 82.

51 Notatka stenograficzna z posiedzenia kolegium MPiOS [A shorthand note from the meeting in the Ministry of Labour and Social Care], 21 June 1956, 42, Ministerstwo Pracy i Opieki Społecznej [Ministry of Labour and Social Care], AAN, 73–4.

52 List podpisany ‘pokrzywdzona jedna z wielu’ do Komisji Kobiet [A letter signed ‘one of many’ to Women's Commission], 4 VII 1959, 100, Komisja Kobiet Centralnej Rady Związków Zawodowych [Women's Commission of the Central Council of Trade Unions], Archiwum Ruchu Zawodowego [Archive of Trade Unions Movement], Warsaw.

53 ‘The state spends millions on nurseries, kindergartens, while the child suffers from the lack of love and warmth’.

54 Interestingly, in subsequent years Polish scholars (economists, sociologists) investigated the ‘real’ differences in work effectiveness between men and women. The results and conclusions drawn from these investigations were ambiguous. Detailed analysis showed that the widespread assumptions of women's work as less valuable were exaggerated, although some differences – for example in absences at work – were noticed. Women took more sick leaves, which is understandable, because leaves for care of sick children were granted exclusively to mothers. Jarska, Kobiety z marmuru, 255–7.

55 Oertzen and Rietzschel, ‘Comparing the Post-War Germanies’, 185.

56 Halina Najduchowska, Pozycja społeczna starych robotników przemysłu metalowego (fragmenty opracowanych badań) [Social position of old blue-collar workers of the metal industry] (Wrocław-Warszawa-Kraków: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich – Wydawnictwo Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 1965), 65.

57 Piotrowski, Struktura, 134.

58 Biuletyn nr 23/191, 27 Apr. 1957, 237/XX/22, KC PZPR, AAN, 22.

59 Biuletyn nr 11, 12 Feb. 1957, 1050/22, ODiZP TVP.

60 Biuletyn nr 3 [an abstract from a letter], 5 Jan. 1957, 1050/22, ODiZP TVP.

61 Najduchowska, Pozycja społeczna, 66.

62 Ibid., 67.

63 Informacja [Information], 11 Apr. 1958, 237/VII-3839, KC PZPR, AAN, 19.

64 Drozdek and Zajdowa, Stosunek kobiet.

65 Several workers’ resolutions, eg. Rezolucja uchwalona na poszerzonym plenum Zarządu Okręgu [Resolution adopted on the plenum of the district board of the chemical industry trade union], 15 Nov. 1956, I/708, Central Council of Trade Unions, AAN, 54.

66 Notatka stenograficzna, 68–9.

67 Kobieta i Życie 32 (1956).

68 Janina Waluk, ‘Postawy kobiet wobec własnej pracy zawodowej’ [Attitudes of women towards their professional work], Studia Socjologiczne [Sociological studies], 3 (1963), 140–1.

69 Najduchowska, Pozycja społeczna, 131.

70 Renata Siemieńska, Nowe życie w nowym mieście [New life in a new city] (Warszawa: Wiedza Powszechna, 1969), 47–57.

71 Lech Froelich, ‘Fantastyczny przyczynek do kwestii równouprawnienia kobiet czyli o problemie dodatków rodzinnych słów kilka’ [Fantastical contribution to women's equality question, or on the problem of family allowances] Życie Gospodarcze [Economic life] (1957).

72 Protokół z 27. posiedzenia Komisji Pracy i Zdrowia [Protocol of the 27th session of the Commission of Labour and Health], 18 Oct. 1956, 23, Kancelaria Sejmu [Parliament Office], AAN, 407.

73 Biuletyn nr 12, 18 Feb. 1954, 1050/9, ODiZP TVP, 4.

74 Rozmowy o sprawach dziecka. Głos ma Jadwiga Blond, naczelnik Wydziału dla Nieletnich w KG MO [Conversations on children's issues. Interview with Jadwiga Blond, head of Warsaw's Milicia department is speaking], Kobieta i Życie, 1 (1957).

75 Zofia Zarzycka, ‘Absencja a sytuacja rodzinna kobiet zatrudnionych w przemyśle’ [Absenteeism and family situation of women working in industry Studia Demograficzne [Demographic studies], 3 (1963), 79.

76 Piotrowski, Struktura, 22.

77 Padraic Kenney, ‘The Gender of Resistance in Communist Poland’, American Historical Review, 104, 2 (1999), 399–425.

78 Fidelis, 2010, 24–5.

79 Stefan Wyszyński, Kobieta w Polsce współczesnej [Woman in contemporary Poland] (Poznań–Warszawa: Pallotinum 1978), 181–3.

80 Male breadwinning was also associated with the family, but in different ways to the case of women. Male breadwinning was perceived as rather self-evident, and as men's primary duty towards the family. However, hierarchies between male workers could have been also affected by the family situation, as workers with numerous families could be considered as more ‘in need’ to work.

81 Biuletyn no. 18, 25 Mar. 1958, 237/XXV-25, KC PZPR, AAN, 180.

82 Biuletyn nr 70/106, 1955, 237/XXV-16, KC PZPR, AAN, 120.

83 Protokół z 27. posiedzenia Komisji Pracy i Zdrowia [Protocol of the 27th session of the Commission of Labour and Health], 18 Oct. 1956, 23, Kancelaria Sejmu [Parliament Office], AAN, 407.

84 Waluk, ‘Postawy kobiet’, 142–3.

85 ‘Wybory a nasze sprawy’ [Elections and our issues], Kobieta i Życie, 2 (1957).

86 Kurzynowski, Adam, ‘Przemiany wzorców karier zawodowych kobiet w latach 1950–1989’ [Changes in patterns of women's professional careers in the years 1950–1989], in Żarnowska, Anna and Szwarc, Andrzej, eds., Kobieta i praca. Wiek XIX i XX [Woman and work: 19th and 20th centuries] (Warsaw: DiG, 2000)Google Scholar.

87 Biuletyn nr 10, 8 Feb. 1954, 1050/9, ODiZP TVP.

88 Piotrowski, Struktura, 152.

89 Informacja dotycząca skarg i wniosków w KPiP za okres od sierpnia do 31 grudnia 1962 (Information about complains and demands in the period from August to December 1962], 6/49, Komitet Pracy i Płac [Committee of Work and Pay], AAN.

90 Waluk, Janina, Płaca i praca kobiet w Polsce [Pay and work of women in Poland] (Warsaw: Książka i Wiedza, 1965), 7Google Scholar.

91 Oertzen and Rietzschel, ‘Comparing the post-war Germanies’, 186. O sprawach kobiet – komunikat z badań [On women's issues. Report from a survey], Sept. 1974, TNS OBOP Archive.

92 Oertzen and Rietzschel, ‘Comparing the Post-War Germanies’.