The faces of women's poverty in Poland

Abstract

The present paper analyses the problem of poverty and the feminisation of poverty in Poland at the micro-level. First, it provides an overview of the basic measures applied to describe poverty, specifies the measures in Poland and considers whether they may contribute to the description of women's poverty in Poland. Next, the paper analyses the feminisation of poverty in Poland by discussing the selected aspects of Polish women's living: time poverty, food, access to sexual education and contraception, and physical activity. The mentioned areas and aspects of women's living witness poverty, which is not directly reflected in the applied quantitative measures, inter alia, because the indicators relate mainly to entire households and not separately to women or to men living within these households. Finally, the paper gives certain recommendations regarding social policy in the area of Polish women's poverty. Considering the complexity of the problem and the limited scope of this paper, the recommendations indicate only some directions for the desired changes and actions.(fragment of text)