Full Description
Women in Poland 1945-1989: Modernity, Equality, Communism offers a compelling and deeply researched exploration of women's lives under state socialism in Poland. The book reveals how communist promises of emancipation intersected with everyday reality - shaping work, family life, political participation, and personal identity. It examines women's political engagement, experiences of work in both urban factories and rural fields, the management of household and family life, childhood and education, as well as biopolitics and the evolving culture of beauty. Juxtaposing the Polish experience with developments across Europe in the second half of the twentieth century, this insightful study uncovers the ambitions, contradictions, and lived realities of communist projects directed at women.
Contents
Introduction to the English-Language Edition
Chapter 1. The Road to Power? Women in Politics (Piotr Perkowski)
Chapter 2. Equal Rights or Conservative Modernity? Women and Work (Ma.gorzata Fidelis)
Chapter 3. The Modern Housewife: Woman in the Household (Piotr Perkowski and Katarzyna Sta.czak-Wi.licz)
Chapter 4. "It's Not Easy Being a Girl": Upbringing, Coming-of-Age, and Education (Katarzyna Sta.czak-Wi.licz)
Chapter 5. Women and the Family (Barbara Klich-Kluczewska)
Chapter 6. Objects of Biopolitics? Health, Reproduction, and Violence (Barbara Klich-Kluczewska and Piotr Perkowski)
Chapter 7. Beautiful and Resourceful: Beauty Culture and the Body (Ma.gorzata Fidelis and Katarzyna Sta.czak-Wi.licz)
Concluding Remarks
Bibliography
Index
