Impact of Ideology on Institutional Solutions Addressing Women’s Role in the Labor Market in Poland
It is often stressed in economic papers that modem industrial and post-industrial societies are organized according to economic rationality, and the role of allocation is the most important one. If this were true, the participation rate of men and women in an occupational system should be shaped by the same factors in the same degree. There are, however, different factors that define the social and occupational position of men and women. Hence, social institutions shape the situation of women in the labor market. The situation of women depends on institutional solutions typical for a certain region or country, since it has evolved in different ways and as a result is not homogenous today. The historically defined position of women in society and the economy is hard to redefine based on features of the variety of institutions, for example a resistance to change. However, even though institutions are rigid, there are ways to influence them. One way used to change reality, is an ideology. This paper addresses if this is an efficient one.