Immigrants in Poland in 1989-2008 : phenomenon analysis taking into account gender and economy

Na str. red. ISSN 0860-7958

The article takes up the issue of the scale of immigration to Poland from 1989 (and hence starting from the beginning of the system transformation) up to 2008. The expectations that Poland will become an immigration country have not proved true – the trips of Poles abroad prevail, but – despite fl uctuations – year after year we can observe greater and greater infl ow of foreigners, and the tendency to increase the level of their employment in Polish economy. However, this does not compensate for the gaps in workforce supply in certain sectors of the economy, which can become a substantial treat in future, with the progressing ageing of population. Special attention has been paid to the gender-related specifi cs of the labour market in Poland. It is only recently that women, their participation and role in the migration processes have become the subject of widespread research interest. One of the reasons is the growing demand for the work of migrants in the care sector – in the context of the already mentioned ageing of developed societies. Care-related needs generate mobility of women from less affl uent countries, and the phenomenon also applies to Poland. On the one hand, Polish women travel abroad to look after children, the elderly and the sick in Germany or Italy; on the other hand, women from Ukraine, Byelorussia or Russia pour into the largest Polish cities. This is a chance for a better life for their families, for meeting their basic material needs, ensuring a chance of education to their children. Barbara Ehrenreich terms the care economy the “female underpinning of globalization”; Arlie R. Hochschild emphasizes that in the contemporary world care work is becoming the “new gold” (Ehrenreich, Hochschild 2003, Hochschild 2003). This allows higher- and middle-class women to reconcile professional and family roles, and at the same time supports the existing socially-cultural and institutional order. The female migrants who were interviewed under the FeMiPol project „Integration of Female Immigrants in Labour Market and Society. Policy Assessment and Policy Recommendations” realized in 2006-2008 by the Population Problems Research Division of the Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University, pointed out the characteristic features of work in the household service sector. They include low wages, short contracts, and in many cases even employment inconsistent with the labour law in force, and not infrequently exploitation and humiliation. Instead of prestige, such work generates uncertainty; there are practically no chances of promotion, using the possessed competences of increasing them. The unregulated status of many female workers is an obstacle to making use of the offered forms of support, and increases the threat of social exclusion. Hence, among the basic recommendations, we point out fi rst of all the need for a broad social discussion on the problem of demand for care, support for legal recruitment channels, and establishment of an appropriate integration policy.