Work in the lives of women with many children living in poverty in the context of reforms in Poland’s family policy – continuation or change?

Abstract

The article discusses unpaid housework done by women with many children living in poverty, and the women’s attitudes towards employment. The empirical basis of the article is in-depth interviews conducted in 2013–2014 and in 2017. The interviewees were poorly educated mothers; they are usually absent from the labour market, take care of at least three children mostly by themselves (also in two-parent families) and manage their privation. Their roles involve taking care of the family, dealing with everyday problems and seeking help. Daily problems and routine make their activities both burdensome and not very satisfying, which encourages them to dream of “running away from home” into a job. A shift in Poland’s family policy (the introduction of the “Family 500+” programme) gave an opportunity to diagnose changes occurring in different areas of the respondents’ lives. The article attempts to answer the questions: Have – and if so to what extent – new benefits modified the women’s attitudes toward paid employment? Have the benefits affected their declared willingness to enter the labour market or made them resign from paid employment? In a broader perspective, the article attempts to find out whether the programme, which significantly improved the financial situation of poor families, paradoxically constitutes an additional barrier (apart from the lack of professional qualifications and taking care of children) in the occupational activity of this category of women. Relatively high resources, despite the obvious advantages, seem to weaken the determination of the respondents to take up paid jobs and thus problematise the situation of at least some of them. In the near future, after their children grow up and do not need the mother’s care, the women will lose the right to the benefits, which are probably their basic source of income, and will have no retirement rights. Moreover, they may experience a sense of emptiness after losing the role of the full-time mother – the only important role for their identities.