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'New women - old Silesia' AGNIESZKA MANDAL (author of photograph)
EUGENIA MANDAL (project manager) University of Silesia, Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology, |
Description popularizing the research project
Up to now in attics of old tenements you can find trunks filled with flowery shawls, skirts and mob caps. They were hidden there by mothers of today's 20- and 30-year-olds, as they knew their daughters would never wash, starch and wear the clothes for a christening or funeral party. Their daughters will not wear them but they will not get rid of them as well, as in memories they can still see their grandmothers who wore the clothes every Sunday. It is no use however to look for immaterial elements of Silesian tradition which has been shaping identity and personality of young Silesian women for generations. It is much easier to put on jeans and a t-shirt than to enter adulthood without looking back in times when the archetypes of female roles are evolving. It is hard for Silesian women to walk their own way still hearing their grandmothers say: '...in my day...'. But it is even harder to realize the male element of the nature becomes dominant and forces them to take decisions, defend them and reach objectives they have set for themselves. Today's world is unlike the world of their mothers who have much more in common with their own mothers than with daughters. Today issues an ultimatum with only one choice, no matter if young women leave a multigenerational family in Nikiszowiec or Giszowiec or a flat in one of numerous housing estates.
Contemporary young women are aware of the fetters of tradition imprisoning them. The question is if they help or hinder them in making the first step? It is certain the 'new' women will take as their Silesian dowry tough character, steadfastness and ability to face adversities with gritted teeth as well as their mothers and grandmothers' look filled with nostalgia and anxiety.
Abstract
The generation of modern, young female citizens of Silesia, is the generation that is going into their adult life in a far more different way comparing to their mothers and grandmothers. Growing up, making decisions and forming new ways of living of present twenty-, thirty-year-olds take place at the borderline of a new economical and social reality, of new ways of self education and self realization. But the traditional, and deeply rooted Silesian way of viewing the role of women and the traditional model of a Silesian family still accompanies the modern, young Silesian females.
The purpose of this research is to characterize and show the role of gender identity and social competences in developing strategies which influence the future of young women in Silesia. The strategy, which means planned and organized actions of a unit, is anchored as well in the past (genesis, action standards and plans) as it is in the future (consequences and taking responsibility for own actions and visions).
The usage of the Social Competences Questionnaire (2001) by Anna Matczak, the Inventory of Psychological Gender (1992) by Alicja Kuczyńska and the Questionnaire of Strategy for Constructing a Future (2003) by Celina Timoszczyk-Tomczak is planned in this research. It will involve a group of approximately 80 women at the age of 20 to 30 living in Silesia.
The research hypotheses assume that the majority of young females living in Silesia are equipped with both male and female social competences which characterize an androgenic gender identity. Young female Silesians are probably also women of medium or high level of social competences (which mean both managing in social exposure situations, in intimate situations and in situations that need assertiveness). These hypotheses substantiate the assumption that the most often chosen by them strategy for planning future is going to be the realistic strategy.