The 'woman question' in Russian Poland, 1900-1914

By 1900 partitioned Poland and especially its territories under Russian rule had experienced the initial phase of fundamental economic and social transformation from the agrarian to the industrial age. The uneasy transition gave rise to a number of burning 'questions' that dominated intellectual and political discourse up to the First World War. This article places the 'woman question' within the context of the dynamic change then affecting Poland and in relationship to other important issues of the day. That a 'woman question' was even posed indicates that women were at the center rather than periphery of Poland's transformation. How the 'woman question' was posed obviously depended on those who posed it. Consequently there were a number of woman questions and envisioned solutions to them. Since the terrain of the 'woman question' was contested, this article outlines the positions staked out by a variety of actors, including that of the first generation of Polish feminists. The article concludes with a discussion of the significance of the 'woman question' in the larger context of modern Polish history. In particular, it attempts to explain why the 'woman question' disappeared from Polish discourse after the Great War, only to resurface at century's end.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, partitioned Poland and especially its territories under imperial Russian rule had experienced the initial phase of fundamental economic, social and political transformation from [...]