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Object

Title: ‘Crippled equality’: the act of 1 July 1921 on civil rights for women in Poland

Creator:

Gałędek, Michał ; Klimaszewska, Anna

Date issued/created:

2016

Resource type:

Text

Subtitle:

Acta Poloniae Historica. T. 113 (2016) ; Studies

Contributor:

Jaros, Maja : Tr. ; Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Publisher:

Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Place of publishing:

Warszawa

Description:

p. 231-260

Type of object:

Journal/Article

Abstract:

While analysing the legislative output of the interwar Republic of Poland, most Polish researchers highlight the significant achievements of the so-called Codification Commission established in 1919, whose twenty years of efforts resulted in the drafting of a host of important codes and other acts of high legislative value. This output, however, could only be put to a very short-lived use in the 1930s. Its full potential was not unleashed until after the Second World War, in a completely changed political reality. On a day-to-day basis, the Polish state of the interwar period faced a number of issues that it either desired to overcome or was forced to do so. One of them was the crippled legal status of women, particularly jarring in the reality of the interwar times. Although the reborn Polish statehood, true to lofty democratic ideals, immediately took it upon itself to change the clearly underprivileged legal status of women, the final effect, that is the legislation in force as at the outbreak of the Second World War, looks meagre. The modern codification had not been adopted, the legal particularism in the scope of civil law had been maintained, the anachronistic codification of the preceding century upheld – the ideals of equal rights for women were made a very much imperfect reality. In this article, we attempt to trace the history of how this came to be by examining difficulties in introducing the principle of equality of women’s rights. The example we have chosen serves to shed light on the mundane efforts to overcome the mounting problems with realizing ideas of modernization upon the underlying legal foundations of a country which, at first sight, seems utterly ill-prepared to tackle this task properly.

References:

Gerhard Ute, ‘Grenzziehungen und Überschreitungen. Die Rechte der Frauen auf dem Weg in die politische Öffentlichkeit’, in Ute Gerhard (ed.), Frauen in der Geschichte des Rechts: Von der Frühen Neuzeit bis zur Gegenwart (München, 1997), 509–46.
Kałwa Dobrochna, Kobieta aktywna w Polsce międzywojennej. Dylematy środowisk kobiecych (Kraków, 2001).
Kowalska-Glikman Stefania, ‘Kobiety w procesie przemian społecznych w Królestwie Polskim w XIX wieku’, in Anna Żarnowska and Andrzej Szwarc (eds.), Kobieta i społeczeństwo na ziemiach polskich w XIX wieku (Kobieta i …, 1, Warszawa, 1990), 11–20.
Kraft Claudia, ‘Równości i nierówności w II Rzeczypospolitej. Prawo małżeńskie w dyskursie publicznym na przełomie lat dwudziestych i trzydziestych’, in Anna Żarnowska and Andrzej Szwarc (eds.), Kobieta i małżeństwo. Społeczno-kulturowe aspekty seksualności. Wiek XIX i XX (Kobieta i …, 8, Warszawa, 2000), 311–27.
Kurczewska Joanna, ‘Der frühe polnische Nationalismus und die Frauenthematik’, in Sophia Kemlein (ed.), Geschlecht und Nationalismus in Mittel- und Osteuropa, 1848–1914 (Einzelveröffentlichungen des DHI Warschau, 4, Osnabrück, 2000), 49–76.
Pietrow-Ennker Bianka, ‘Frau und Nation im geteilten Polen’, in Sophia Kemlein (ed.), Geschlecht und Nationalismus in Mittel- und Osteuropa, 1848–1914 (Einzelveröffentlichungen des DHI Warschau, 4, Osnabrück, 2000), 125–143.
Pietrzak Michał, ‘Sytuacja prawna kobiet w Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej’, in Anna Żarnowska and Andrzej Szwarc (eds.), Kobieta i świat polityki w niepodległej Polsce 1918–1939 (Kobieta i …, 3, Warszawa, 1996), 33–52.
Słomiński Adam, Ustawa w przedmiocie zmiany niektórych przepisów obowiązującego w b. Królestwie Polskiem prawa cywilnego, dotyczących praw kobiet (Łódź, 1921).

Relation:

Acta Poloniae Historica

Volume:

113

Start page:

231

End page:

260

Detailed Resource Type:

Article : original article

Format:

application/pdf

Resource Identifier:

oai:rcin.org.pl:61392 ; 2450-8462

Source:

IH PAN, sygn. A.295/113 Podr. ; IH PAN, sygn. A.296/113 ; click here to follow the link

Language:

eng

Rights:

Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. [CC BY-ND 4.0] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license, full text available at: ; -

Digitizing institution:

Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Original in:

Library of the Institute of History PAS

Projects co-financed by:

-

Access:

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