Socio-Professional Position of Women with Academic Background (with special reference to the Polish conditions)

The present paper was presented at the International Seminar organized by the Swedish National Board of Universities and Colleges in conjunction with the UNESCO European Centre for Higher Education with the support of the Swedish Ministries of Education and of Labour, held in Uppsala, Sweden between 16th and 18th September. The paper discusses the impact of progress in science and technique on the socio-professional position of women. It is based on the analysis of the process of professional activation of women, their educational background, employment and qualifications. The statistical data have been collected from the official Polish statistical publications. The position of women in Poland's socio-political 1ife is a result of political and social transformations witnessed in Poland during the last 40 years. Analysis of dynamics of women's employment in the socialized economy shows that it was twice faster than dynamics of men’s employment. There are listed factor s promoting rapid professional activation, pointed out sectors of the economy undergoing constant feminization (i.e. the sectors in which women account for over 50 per cent of total work force), with a marked improvement in womens educational background being t reated as a factor contributing to higher rates of their professional activity. Special attention has been focussed on problems of professional promotion of women with academic background, anti on presentation of the educational system in Poland along with the system of promotions in the sphere of academic education in Poland. There are also described difficulties encountered by young women, especially during their maternity. An increase in the share of women in the academic education system caused that they represented ca.40 per cent of assistants in the years 1980-1984, ca. 37 per cent of senior assistants, and ca. 33 per cent of tutors. Meanwhile, women accounted for 18 per cent of all assistant professors ca. 14 per cent of associate professors, and only 7 per cent of full professors. And although these shares may not satisfy women themselves, it should be stated that they reflect a tremendous progress in this field. This trend has every indication of being maintained in the future as well. Along with socio-economic stabilization, the number and proportion of women among academic teachers can be expected to grow. We do not try to boost feminization of the occupation of an academic teacher, but we wish to state that women are fully prepared intellectually to perform equal work with men in this very difficult and ambitious occupation. Ways of promotion in science must be uniform and independent of sex. Selection in science results from natural laws ruling this occupation. It is inadmissible, however, to discriminate women and hamper their already difficult road to promotion. Instances of discrimination are recorded in all states, and their elimination is not an easy task, which can be accomplished only in the long run.Zadanie pt. „Digitalizacja i udostępnienie w Cyfrowym Repozytorium Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego kolekcji czasopism naukowych wydawanych przez Uniwersytet Łódzki” nr 885/P-DUN/2014 dofinansowane zostało ze środków MNiSW w ramach działalności upowszechniającej naukę