Women's involvement in social problems in the interwar period in Poland on selected examples

Abstract

The article presents the profiles and activities of a few selected women, social activists from the interwar period in Poland. They came from various backgrounds, they were active in many fields, but also offered and directed their help to various groups of people. They were all connected by their work done out of sense of duty and even understood as a mission towards people who were in need. Their possibilities were different. Michalina Mościcka and Aleksandra Piłsudska were the wives of notable politicians. They both acted as community workers before their husbands ’political careers took off, and likewise while they were in public office. Olga Małkowska from the Drahonowski family participated in the establishment of the scouting movement in Poland, promoted its spread in society, and at the same time saw and reacted to problems that Poles faced right after the state regained independence. She was socially involved, inter alia, in taking care of poor children. Dr. Justyna Budzyńska-Tylicka was a doctor, a pioneer in promoting women’s hygiene and health. She noticed the problems of the poorest women related to the issue of family planning, which led her to engage in social and educational activities in rural and working-class communities. The writer Irena Krzywicka was also active in this field. Zofia Solarzowa, on the other hand, took the work in the social field from home. Following the example of the activities of her adoptive parents, she felt the need to continue their work, engaging in the cooperative movement, thus educating future social activists. The activities of all these women could be treated as a new form of patriotism, meant not through armed, military struggle, but through broadly understood work aimed at strengthening the Polish state, reborn after 123 years of captivity.