Irrational non-reproduction? The ‘dying nation’ and the postsocialist logics of declining motherhood in Poland

Abstract

Polish birthrates during the state socialist period, 1948–1989, stayed above replacement level but since 1989 fell dramatically to one of the lowest in Europe, at 1.29 in 2010. The Polish Catholic Church and the newly-elected nationalist government of Lech Wałęsa reacted by escalating pronatalist rhetoric calling on women to increase childbearing in the name of economic and nationalist causes. Reflecting the renewed dominance of the Church, Wałęsa implemented restrictions on family planning, including abortion, contraception, and sex education, justifying them in moral and demographic terms. Plummeting fertility has been portrayed by the Church, media, and state as dangerous and unreasonable – a sign of Polish women's rejection of motherhood and the embrace of selfish priorities. Simultaneously however, the state cut back motherhood-friendly policies established by the socialist regime, including subsidized childcare, maternity leave, and healthcare. This paper draws on 19 months of fieldwork between 2000 and 2007, using interviews with 55 women in four healthcare clinics in Gdańsk area, and participant-observation at the social services offices in Krakow. This paper shows that far from irrational rejection of motherhood, Polish middle-class women are guided by pragmatic reasons when delaying parenthood in order to navigate the new political landscape marked by job insecurity and gendered discrimination in employment. Yet, rather than implementing work-family reconciliation policies that have stimulated fertility elsewhere in Europe, the Church and state insist on blaming women for ‘irrational’ non-reproduction, thus betraying a lack of political commitment to gender equity in employment, reproductive health, and in the family.

Keywords:

• reproductive decision-making
• fertility decline
• postsocialist neoliberalisation
• gender inequity
• middle classness
• Catholic Church
• Poland

Acknowledgements

The postdoctoral research was supported by the Charlotte Ellertson Postdoctoral Fellowship and the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. The dissertation research was funded by the Fulbright Scholarship. Institutional Review Board approvals were granted by the University of Colorado and Columbia University. The author thanks the panelists and participants in American Anthropological Association session at the 2008 conference where this paper was originally presented, as well as the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. The author is also grateful to the many women who agreed to participate in this study as well as the clinics’ directors, healthcare providers, and support staff for enabling this project.

Conflict of interest: none.

Notes

1. Statistical Yearbook of Poland, 1989–2007. Warsaw: Central Statistical Agency, p.124.

2. UN Population Division. Total fertility rate. http://data.un.org/Data.aspx?d=PopDiv&f=variableID%3A54#PopDiv

3. The Magistrate for Family Affairs: Program: Profamily Politics of the State. Warsaw, 1999, p. 3.

4. It is unsurprising that a focus on religious family values has the effect of curtailing fertility as scholars have shown that a religious family ethos is linked with greater gender inequity in the family, which in turn drives women's preferences for fewer children (McDonald 2000).

5. ‘Explaining the increase in inequality during the transition’. See website: http://www.worldbank.org.pl/external/default/main?pagePK=51187349&piPK=51189435&theSitePK=304795&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=304822&theSitePK=304795&entityID=000009265_3980901093351&searchMenuPK=304822&theSitePK=304795 [Accessed on 12/29/2010]

6. ‘Distribution of income or consumption’. See: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/Resources/table2_7.pdf

7. See: http://www.becikowe.com/

8. Discussions about the declining fertility in Europe are prominent at the level of the European Union; however, the EU has no mandate to require particular social service provisions or any other policies aimed at stimulating births. Thus, each member of the Union devises its own work–family reconciliation policy.

9. Roma women have actually been the target of sterilization campaigns elsewhere in Easter Europe, in particular in the Czech Republic.

10. ‘The Church perseveres in her mission’. May 17, 1995. See: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/alpha/data/aud19950517en.html

11. Emphasis in the original.

12. Modern contraceptive use increased in Poland significantly (56% in 2007) and the use of less reliable methods such as periodic abstinence or no method has declined dramatically. Still, in one study 36% of births were from unintended pregnancies. After the 1993 abortion ban, illegal abortion became widely available in private medical clinics for high fees (Mishtal 2010).

13. ‘Declaration on the Decrease of Fertility in the World’. Pontifical Council for the Family. Vatican, Feb. 27, 1998. See: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/family/documents/rc_pc_family_doc_29041998_fecondita_en.html

14. The perceived threat of ‘Islamization’ and other anti-immigrant and nationalist sentiments that have intensified in this region after the Soviet collapse, constitute a major subject matter, and cannot be adequately addressed within the scope of this paper.