Abstrakt
After Poland’s state socialist regime collapsed in 1989, the nation’s total fertility rate plummeted from 2.1 to 1.3 by 2013, and is currently one of the lowest childbearing rates in the European Union. Simultaneously, the state reduced motherhood-friendly social services, including subsidized childcare, maternity leave, and healthcare, and restricted access to family planning. This paper draws on research conducted between May and August 2007 in Gdańsk, Sopot, and Gdynia, which investigates Polish women’s reproductive decision-making. The findings reveal that discriminatory practices by employers against pregnant women and women with small children are decisive in women’s decisions to postpone or limit childbearing. The case of Poland demonstrates the need to redress fundamental gendered discrimination in employment before work-family reconciliation policies can be effective. It also suggests that rather than focusing on broad economic theories as explanatory models, a closer analysis of gendered politics is needed to understand fertility decline in Poland.
Bibliografia
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Bühler Christoph, Frątczak Ewa 2005, Learning from others and receiving support: The impact of personal networks on fertility intentions in Poland, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, vol. 17, pp. 1–27
Caldwell John, Schindlmayr Thomas 2003, Explanations of the fertility crisis in modern societies: A search for commonalities, Population Studies, vol. 57 no. 3, pp. 241–263
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OECD – Organization for economic co-operation and development 2013, Poland – Country note – Education at a glance 2013: OECD indicators (http://gpseducation.oecd.org/CountryProfile?primaryCountry=POL&treshold=10&topic=EO)
Ost David 2005, The defeat of solidarity: Anger and politics in postcommunist Europe, Ithaca: Cornell University Press
Pine Frances 2002, Retreat to the household? Gendered domains in postsocialist Poland, In: Postsocialism: Ideals, ideologies and practices in Eurasia, Hann C. M. (ed.), New York: Routledge, pp. 95–113
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Rhein Wendy 1998, The feminization of poverty: Unemployment in Russia, Journal of International Affairs, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 351–367
Rivkin-Fish Michele 2003, Anthropology, demography, and the search for a critical analysis of fertility: Insights from Russia, American Anthropologist, vol. 105, no. 2, pp. 289–301
Rivkin-Fish Michele 2010, Pronatalism, gender politics, and the renewal of family support in Russia: Toward a feminist anthropology of ‘maternity capital,’ Slavic Review, vol. 69, no. 3, pp. 228–312
Rosenbluth Frances, Light Matthew, Schrag Claudia 2004, The politics of gender equality: Explaining variation in fertility levels in rich democracies, Women & Politics, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 1–25
Sobotka Tomas 2004, Is lowest-low fertility in Europe explained by the postponement of childbearing, Population and Development Review, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 195–220
Stoilkova Maria 2005, A quest for belonging: The Bulgarian demographic crisis, emigration and the postsocialist generations, In: Barren states, Douglass C. B. (ed.), New York: Berg Publishers, pp. 115–136
Strauss Anselm, and Corbin Juliet 1998, Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory, London: Sage Publications
Verdery Katherine 1996, What was socialism, and what comes next?, Princeton: Princeton University Press
World Health Organization 2007, The World Health Report 2006. Annex Table 2, Geneva: World Health Organization (http://www.who.int/whr/2006/annex/06_annex2_en.pdf)
Bühler Christoph, Frątczak Ewa 2005, Learning from others and receiving support: The impact of personal networks on fertility intentions in Poland, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, vol. 17, pp. 1–27
Caldwell John, Schindlmayr Thomas 2003, Explanations of the fertility crisis in modern societies: A search for commonalities, Population Studies, vol. 57 no. 3, pp. 241–263
Castles Francis 2003, The world turned upside down: Below replacement fertility, changing preferences and family-friendly public policy in 21 OECD countries, Journal of European Social Policy, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 209–227
Domanski Henryk 2002, Is the East European ‘underclass’ feminized?, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 383–394
Fodor Eva, Glass Christy, Kawachi Janette and Popescu Livia 2002, Family policies and gender in Hungary, Poland, and Romania, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 486–487
Frątczak Ewa 2004, Family and fertility in Poland – Changes during the transition period, Paper presented at the PIE International Workshop on Demographic Changes and Labor Markets in Transition Economies, Tokyo, February 2004
Frątczak Ewa 2004, Very low fertility: The patterns and their implications, The European Population Paper Series, no. 21, The European Population Committee
Greenhalgh Susan 1996, The social construction of population science: An intellectual, institutional, and political history of twentieth century demography, Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 26–66
Klinger Klara 2013, Obiecanki Arłukowicza. Projekt rozporządzenia utknął, a kobiety dalej rodzą w bólu, Dziennik.pl (http://zdrowie.dziennik.pl/aktualnosci/artykuly/441244,kobiety-w-szpitalach-rodza-w-bolach-i-tak-juz-zostanie.html)
Kotowska Irena, Jóźwiak Janina, Matysiak Anna, Baranowska Anna 2008, Poland: Fertility decline as a response to profound societal and labour market changes? Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, vol. 19, no. 22, pp. 795–854
Krause Elizabeth 2007, Memory and meaning: Genealogy of a fertile protest, Journal of Modern Italian Studies, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 406–416
Lesthaeghe Ron and Neels Karel 2002, From the first to the second demographic transition: An interpretation of the spatial continuity of demographic innovation in France, Belgium and Switzerland, European Journal of Population, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 325–360
McDonald Peter 2000, Gender equity in theories of fertility transition, Population and Development Review, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 427–439
Mynarska Monika, Bernardi Laura 2006, Meanings and attitudes attached to cohabitation in Poland, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, vol. 06, pp. 1–34
OECD – Organization for economic co-operation and development 2013, Poland – Country note – Education at a glance 2013: OECD indicators (http://gpseducation.oecd.org/CountryProfile?primaryCountry=POL&treshold=10&topic=EO)
Ost David 2005, The defeat of solidarity: Anger and politics in postcommunist Europe, Ithaca: Cornell University Press
Pine Frances 2002, Retreat to the household? Gendered domains in postsocialist Poland, In: Postsocialism: Ideals, ideologies and practices in Eurasia, Hann C. M. (ed.), New York: Routledge, pp. 95–113
Plessz Marie 2009, Life stages and transformations of the labor market: The case of Central Europe, European Societies, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 103–136
Rhein Wendy 1998, The feminization of poverty: Unemployment in Russia, Journal of International Affairs, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 351–367
Rivkin-Fish Michele 2003, Anthropology, demography, and the search for a critical analysis of fertility: Insights from Russia, American Anthropologist, vol. 105, no. 2, pp. 289–301
Rivkin-Fish Michele 2010, Pronatalism, gender politics, and the renewal of family support in Russia: Toward a feminist anthropology of ‘maternity capital,’ Slavic Review, vol. 69, no. 3, pp. 228–312
Rosenbluth Frances, Light Matthew, Schrag Claudia 2004, The politics of gender equality: Explaining variation in fertility levels in rich democracies, Women & Politics, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 1–25
Sobotka Tomas 2004, Is lowest-low fertility in Europe explained by the postponement of childbearing, Population and Development Review, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 195–220
Stoilkova Maria 2005, A quest for belonging: The Bulgarian demographic crisis, emigration and the postsocialist generations, In: Barren states, Douglass C. B. (ed.), New York: Berg Publishers, pp. 115–136
Strauss Anselm, and Corbin Juliet 1998, Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory, London: Sage Publications
Verdery Katherine 1996, What was socialism, and what comes next?, Princeton: Princeton University Press
World Health Organization 2007, The World Health Report 2006. Annex Table 2, Geneva: World Health Organization (http://www.who.int/whr/2006/annex/06_annex2_en.pdf)