Posted on 10/27/2006 10:52:52 AM PDT by lizol
1 in 2 woman want to be housewives
27.10.2006
If given the choice, 50% of Polish women would rather stay at home than pursue a career, says new survey.
Report by Joanna Najfeld
According to a report by the Polish Public Opinion Research Center, nearly half of women in Poland would be happy as stay at home moms without a professional career, provided that there was enough money in the household to support the family. Only 14% of women would like to work outside of home at all cost. The report, commissioned by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy outlines the situation of women on the Polish labor market.
Commenting on the finding that many Polish women would not pursue a professional career, if they didn't have to, Inga Ka³u¿yñska, a women's rights activist and a full-time mom herself, says that in Poland a woman's lifestyle is not always the result of her free and urestricted choice:
'Society is not organized in a way that helps a woman to stay with her babies. This is the problem that husbands are not paid enough to support the family.'
Kaluzynska's experience with how society reacts to her status as a full time mom, has not been all that positive.
'The image of a full time mom staying at home is much poorer than the image of a woman who works out of home. I can feel some, let's say, pressure that, ok, I finished university and I got some valuable experience doing professional job, then why do I stay at home with my kids? But I have a feeling that it's a good choice. It's my choice. I want to give my babies my love and attention. The image of full time mothers should be improved in the media because I personally don't find a lot of support there.'
Such feelings are validated by a previous research by the Public Opinion Research Center. Answering the question about the kind of women who are most respected in society, as many as 49% of respondents pointed to women working professionally, and only 4% mentioned housewives.
Recalling her personal experience as a career woman, before she became a stay at home mom, Inga Ka³u¿yñska thinks that maintaing the house and taking care of children can be as empowering as a professional career.
'I've been a full time mom of two children for almost four years now. Previously I had worked in a big international company. We were provided with probably the best training available on the market, but I see my full time motherhood as the greatest personal training I could achive in terms of flexibility, time management, teamwork and the like.
I've always loved my job and I worked on very interesting projects, but being with my babies is the most satisfying and challenging project of my life.'
It is estimated that about 1.3 million of women in Poland work at home.
Analysts of the market have calculated that the job that Polish housewives do every day contributes about 30% to Poland's gross national income.
Ma³gorzata Skrzek is an economist who has researched the situation of women in Poland from the market perspective.
'We all know that women are discriminated against on the job market when it comes to the unemployment rate. In addition to that, there is the problem of giving birth to children. Young women who just graduated from the university very often say that they don't feel discriminated against at work. They don't feel that because they are not mothers. Very many women first meet with discrimination when they have children and suddenly become a 'second category' employee.'
Skrzek also points to the fact that compared to the USA or Western European countries, Poland has a very low percentage of part time workers. In „old" EU countries and in the USA, one in three women is employed part time. In Poland the rate is less than half of that. That is why Skrzek has been advocating more flexible work conditions for women who would like to combine being a housewife with a part time professional job.
'I know hardly any women who work part time. It is very rare. I think that this is the main problem. We want to work and we want women to have a choice. We want them to be allowed to stay at home after they have children, if they want to. But we also want them to be allowed to come back to work later.'
Data from Poland's Central Statistics Office show that the situation on the Polish market worsened over the decade 1995-2005 both for men and women. Only recently, it has begun to improve slowly, with the rate of unemployment slowly falling, primarily among men.
Careful what they ask for, I'm a housewife and not a day goes by that I am not insulted in some way for it.
It was my observation that when in Ukraine and Russia (and Moldova, illegally), that women even if they worked outside of the home, were housewives anyway.
I don't mean to sound sexist or anything, but especially in Ukraine, it appeared to me that women did 90% of all work, inside the home and in the working world.
That's ok, people will always have an opinion about the choices you make, especially if they differ from yours. If you want to stay home, stay home, if you want to work, work!
Polish girls are hot!!!
No insult here - I'm green with envy. I would love to be able to spend my days preparing my home for my family. I think if more of us did that, there wouldn't be so many problems today in society. Kuddo's for you!!!
I would love to be a housewife. Hell, I'd just settle for a date.
It is a shame that people would insult you for doing such important work. Taking care of kids/husbands (we need taking care of, believe me) is vital. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
2 women is a pretty small sample.
LOL!
I know the feeling.
I love it. They can say what they want.
If others insult you, it's likely because deep down they are envious of what you have. Like I've told my wife for the last 29 years, you have the most important job in the family, raising the children and keeping the home as a sanctuary of escape and solace from the world for the others. I've heard too many career women in my office talk for too many years to convince me otherwise. You're family is blessed to have a wife and mom at home regardless of what the world says. - OB1
"the kids were happier"
I know mine are too. Except they don't get by with much. :)
I have 4 teenage daughter's and if I was not at home they wouldn't be either. That would be a mess for sure.
I volunteer in 6 different places (something the libs say they stand for, but don't do )I get little repect for it. That's ok I don't do it for that reason.
But a warning to others who think they want to do it be careful because people like me get little respect.
I'd love it!
My mother always complained about being treated like a second-class person since she stayed at home (this was late 70's and 80's - NOT the time to be a stay at home mom).
The only bumper sticker she ever put on a car "Mothers are Working Women too!"
Oh I don't know. I'd settle for two pretty women.
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