Public Sector Reform and Women's Work in Poland: ‘Working for Juice, Coffee and Cheap Cosmetics!’

Abstract

The debate on the transformation of work in east central Europe has concentrated on the restructuring of employment in manufacturing to the detriment of any discussion of the transformation of work in the service and public sectors, where the majority of women are employed. Moreover, while it is frequently recognized that women have been hit hard by job loss and unemployment, less attention has been paid the changing experiences of women in work. This article looks at the profound impact of market-driven reforms in the Polish health and education sectors implemented in the late 1990s, and considers their implications for women and their work. It reports on interviews with a cross-section of women workers in schools and hospitals and with trade union leaders at both the national and branch level. The impacts of the reforms and the experiences of women workers are discussed through the themes of changing employment levels, the restructuring of working conditions, job security, wages, training, and the double burden of balancing domestic and work lives. The general findings are that although the impact has been highly uneven between workplaces and regions, in general women have experienced an intensification of work and deteriorating working conditions. Their personal lives are not only more stressful due to the pressure at work, but also the double burden of paid and domestic work has increased due to the marketization of public provision. In both sectors, the response to reform has been widespread and militant industrial action, which has gained considerable political attention. We therefore also focus on how women have contested change, both passively and actively, through trade unionism and other political practice.

Contingencies of Self-Worth and Global Self-Esteem Among College Women: The Role of Masculine and Feminine Traits Endorsement

“…Additionally, women usually occupy low-status positions and suffer from discrimination in their workplace, e.g. a glass ceiling (Boski, 2009;Olson et al, 2007;Stenning & Hardy, 2005;Watson, 1992). Women in Poland are still facing the problem of double-shift (Marody, 1993) and unequal division of household duties (Budrowska, Duch-Krzysztoszek, & Titkow, 2003).…”

‘The Right to Choose or Choosing What's Right? Women's Conceptualizations of Work and Life Choices in Contemporary Russia’

“…The women in this study also identified this as a major barrier to employment in a good job that would not only secure material needs, but also enable samorealizatsiia (see below). Women in the study were angry at the disparity between the level of qualifications required for jobs even in the unskilled secondary labour market where women were increasingly seeking employment due to the loss of former state sector jobs, which had a deskilling and demoralizing effect (see also Stenning and Hardy, 2005 in relation to public sector reform in Poland). A librarian in her mid‐forties discussed the trend for recruiting women with higher education into the lowest paid and unskilled jobs:…”

“…Another dimension in narratives around the right to work emerged in discussions of samorealizatsiia relating to the freedom of choices that the transition to the market economy had brought for women in Russia and in other post‐socialist contexts (see also Stenning and Hardy, 2005). Certainly, some women have benefited from the freedoms democratization and marketization have brought, as the images of successful and professional business women in the media emphasize (Zhurzhenko, 2001).…”

“…The collapse of state socialism in Russia resulted in dramatic economic and societal changes as well as the transformation of modes of employment. These transformations have had particular effects for women as previous forms and structures of work and lifestyle have been radically altered (Stenning and Hardy, 2005). For example, the reduction in state sector employment and associated extensive childcare provision has resulted in part‐time and flexible contracts becoming the norm, a mode of working extremely uncommon during the Soviet period (Pollert, 2003).…”

Choosing and Planning in a Climate of Insecurity: Balancing Professional Work and Family Life in Poland

“…5 Instead, choosing to postpone parenthood reflects individuals' efforts to chart a path in life that takes advantage of new opportunities while avoiding new risks; parenthood can severely restrict women's access to secure employment and material well-being, and the state can no longer be counted on to provide subsidies or services to help minimize the impact of motherhood. The challenges Polish women face fulfilling roles as both parents and workers reflect a society-level failure to reconcile the pronatal values that shape social policy with neoliberal capitalist ideology that shapes economic policy and business practices; the former valorizes traditional maternal roles for women, while the latter pressures women to prioritize work over family (Bystydzienski 2005;Hantrais and Ackers 2005;Kotowska 2002;Ornacka and Szczepaniak-Wiecha 2005;Stenning and Hardy 2005;Wenzel 2006…”