Women Rule the Polish Village? Local Authorities and Gender Cover Image

Kobiety rządzą polską wsią? Władza lokalna i płeć
Women Rule the Polish Village? Local Authorities and Gender

Author(s): Ilona Matysiak
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Rural and urban sociology
Published by: Instytut Rozwoju Wsi i Rolnictwa Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: position of village representative; position of commune councilor; rural self-government; local power; gender;

Summary/Abstract: The main aim of this article is to analyse rural women’s participation in local and rural self-government using the example of the position of commune councilor and village representative. The author addresses the questions about the scale of such involvement, how it changes over time as well as its regional differentiations. The first part of the article is focused on the dynamics of changes of women’s participation in the local and rural self-government before and after 1989. Subsequently, the differences in women’s involvement in self-governmental structures according to the region will be described. The overall increase of women’s share among commune councilors and village representatives is shaped by: institutional and political conditions, the nature of the position entered into, the level of rural women’s cultural and their biographical resources, the process of the redefinition of gender roles and contextual factors. The article draws secondary data available from relevant literature as well as from the outcome of own qualitative research.

  • Issue Year: 166/2015
  • Issue No: 1(2)
  • Page Range: 127-141
  • Page Count: 15
  • Language: Polish