Poland: Women Journalists and ‘The Polish Mother’ Mentality
Abstract
Taken together, the eight nations2 surveyed in Eastern Europe for the Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media (Global Report) (Byerly 2011) demonstrated that women in this region have greater representation and participation at all occupational levels than women in other areas of the globe (p. 266). This is due in part to remnants of the gender equality doctrine upheld by the power apparatus during the time when these nations had communist regimes.3 That doctrine, albeit being more propaganda than policy, and albeit making gender inequality hidden rather than absent, indeed gave women increased access to education and to work outside of the household, and as such increased women’s representation in the public arena and the labor force. These historical factors enabling women’s professional entrée, together with the more recent efforts by many of these nations to adopt the regulations related to gender equality required by EU Member States, continue to give women journalists in Eastern Europe an edge in newsroom equality (Byerly 2011; Nastasia and Cismaru 2012).
Keywords
Sexual Harassment Eastern European Country News Media Maternity Leave Occupational LevelPreview
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