Solidarity Trade Union, Gender Issues, and Child Care In poland

earn on average two-thirds the salary of men, Solidarity trade union might have emerged as the champion of pay equity and affirmative action programmes to alleviate gender inequity in the workplace. That was not the case. In 1980-81, Solidarity projected a conservative position on women's issues not only by ignoring inequities based on sex, but also by pressing for social policies that would allow women to devote more time to family and child-rearing. In examining Solidarity's position on child care and other issues deemed to be of primary concern to women, this paper will argue that while the popular trade union succeeded in negotiating improved social benefits, it also reinforced the image of women as secondary wage earners whose main concerns are family and home.2 The analysis of Solidarity's position on gender issues and its effect on social policies will be developed in three parts. The first will focus on the workers' demands from the August 1980 strikes to the declaration of martial law on 13 December 1981. This will include an analysis of Solidarity's programme and press at the national and regional levels. Since Solidarity avowedly attempted to integrate religious and secular values, the paper will assess the extent to which the union's programme reflected Catholic profamily values in its assumptions about female and family issues. The second section will evaluate the effect of Solidarity's demands and negotiations on government social policy, especially the 1981 Child Care Leave Act. A comparison of child care benefits from 1970 to 1985 will bring into question

Economics · European union · International trade · Political science · Politics · Solidarity · Trade union · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Social Policy and Reform Studies

• Canadian Publications on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe for 1988

  Jack McIntosh•Canadian Slavonic Papers•1989

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