Polish Mothers on the Move

312 Pages·2015·3.69 MB·English

Polish Mothers
on the Move
Gendering Migratory Experiences
of Polish Women Parenting
in Germany and the United Kingdom

Thesis submitted for examination for:
PhD in Sociology and Social Policy

Paulina Pustułka
School of Social Sciences
Bangor University

September 2014
I hereby declare that

(i) the thesis is not one for which a degree has been or will be conferred by any
other university or institution;
(ii) the thesis is not one for which a degree has already been conferred by this
University;
(iii) the work for the thesis is my own work and that, where material submitted by
me for another degree or work undertaken by me as part of a research group has been
incorporated into the thesis, the extent of the work thus incorporated has been clearly
indicated.
(iv) the composition of the thesis is my own work.

Paulina Pustułka

I agree to deposit an electronic copy of my thesis (the Work) in the Bangor
University (BU) Institutional Digital Repository, the British Library ETHOS system,
and/or in any other repository authorized for use by Bangor University and where
necessary have gained the required permissions for the use of third party material.

Paulina Pustułka

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Abstract
Situated at the crossroads of family studies and migration research, this thesis
discusses the experiences of Polish migrant mothers raising their children in Germany and
the United Kingdom from a gender-centred feminist perspective.
The literature review chapters of this work show the scholarly works relevant to a
discussion on the migrant lives of the study’s respondents as migrants, being both Poles
and mothers. On the one hand, it highlights scholarly research on the processes of
mobility, particularly in relation to transnationalism, migration of mothers and children, as
well as the specific conditions faced by contemporary migrants from Poland to Western
Europe. On the other hand, it reflects on modern families and parenting, offering in
particular a feminist critique of mothering.
The thesis then supplies details on the data collection and includes a discussion of
the researcher’s reflexivity in the field. The empirical evidence was obtained through a
qualitative, small-scale field study – a feminist inquiry using an in-depth interviewing
technique.
By showcasing the findings, the thesis demonstrates a range of choices that Polish
mothers abroad make when it comes to raising children. The study delineates the following
ideal-type models: Mother-Pole connected to the Polish heritage, Intensive Motherhood
adopted as a mainstream model of Western Europe, the peripheral instances of Feminist
Mothering, and, finally, the New Migrant Mothering. The latter is an original, key
contribution of this thesis, illustrated by women’s stories of the transnational integrative
practice of mothering that aims at hybridization of Polish and Western influences.
While addressing the earlier knowledge gap, namely the absence of the voices of
Polish mothers as agents of mobility, the thesis ascertains a need for acknowledging
diversity in parenting practices within the contemporary intra-European transnational
families.
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Acknowledgements

I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Howard Davis who supervised
this work, asked insightful questions from day one until submission. Thank you for your
invaluable advice and feedback during the final write-up stage.
I am grateful to many colleagues who commented on conference presentations and
articles originating from this work, collaborated with me on research projects and shared
offices throughout the years. I am particularly indebted to Justyna Bell and Magda
Ślusarczyk for their feedback and encouragements, as well as to Professor Krystyna Slany
whose arguments helped to keep my work connected to the Polish context.

I am very grateful to my Mother who offered to read, revise and comment on the
drafts, as well as to all friends who kept me going when times were tough.
Last but least, I would like to thank my partner Mario for his unconditional support
throughout this process. I dedicate this work to our son Antoś – the best possible
“Research Assistant” I could have hoped for.

This work would not have been possible without the 125th Anniversary Research
Scholarship awarded by Bangor University (2010-2013). In addition, I would like to
recognize the financial support received from DAAD for my stay in Germany and the
research grant awarded by PON UJ (London).
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1
Standpoint ........................................................................................................................... 2
Thesis Overview ................................................................................................................. 5

PART I Literature Review ............................................................................................ 8
Chapter 2: Families, Parenting and Mothering:
‘Doing Family’ and Studying Parenting Practices............................................... 8
Motherhood in Poland: An Overview ................................................................................. 16
Mother-Pole: Maternal Entanglements with Nation, Religion and Everyday .................. 18
Neoliberalism, New and Intensive motherhood of the West .............................................. 29
New and Intensive Motherhood in Contemporary Poland ............................................... 38
Feminism, Families and the Motherhood Question ........................................................... 45
Historical Account ............................................................................................................ 45
Feminist Mothering ............................................................................................................. 50
Polish Feminists and Motherhood .................................................................................... 53
Chapter 3: Mobility, Transnationalism,
Family Migration, and Migrant Motherhood ........................................................ 58
Migrating Women - a Minority that became a Majority..................................................... 59
Transnationalism ................................................................................................................. 65
Transnationalism and Families ......................................................................................... 70
Global Mothers on the Move .............................................................................................. 74
Transnational Mothers ...................................................................................................... 74
Migrant Motherhood ......................................................................................................... 77
Chapter 4: Polish Migrant Mothers and Families
since the EU Accession ............................................................................................... 83
Gender and Migration Studies in the Polish Case .............................................................. 87
Polish Migration to Germany.............................................................................................. 94
Polish Migrant Families in the United Kingdom ................................................................ 99
PART II: Methodology .............................................................................................. 107
Chapter 5: Research Design ..................................................................................... 109
Feminist Inquiry – An Overview ...................................................................................... 109
Qualitative Interviewing, Narratives and Biographies ...................................................... 111
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Ethical Issues ..................................................................................................................... 116
‘Observing the Observer’ – Positionalities in the Field .................................................... 119
Chapter 6: Research Process .................................................................................... 127
Participants Selection and Fieldwork Schedule ............................................................... 127
Participants’ Characteristics ............................................................................................. 130
Interview Proceedings ...................................................................................................... 132
Analysis, Key Concepts and Representation .................................................................... 136
Delineating Mothering Models .......................................................................................... 141
PART II Polish Women Mothering Abroad:
Findings and Discussions ................................................................... 145
Chapter 7: Not Saying Goodbye to Mother-Pole Just Yet:
Polish Motherhood Icon Abroad .............................................................................. 145
Mother-Pole on the Mission: Sacrifice, Survival and Clash with the West ..................... 146
Practices of Child-raising and Translocalism ................................................................... 153
Chapter 8: Mothers gone West? Polish Migrants
Choosing ‘Intensive’ Motherhood and ‘Feminist’ Mothering ........................ 167
Blurred yet visible lines: Distinguishing Intensive Mothers
from Mother-Poles through ideologies and practices ....................................................... 167
Emerging Practices of Polish Feminist Migrant Mothering ............................................. 182
Chapter 9: Towards ‘New Migrant Motherhood’ ............................................... 191
Pragmatism and Reflexivity: Core Features of New Migrant Mothers ............................ 192
New Migrant Mothers and Transnational Resourcefulness ............................................. 204

Chapter 10: Comparing the Models and Situating Key Contributions ........ 213
Discussion ......................................................................................................................... 213
Contributions and Closing Remarks ................................................................................. 226

Bibliography ................................................................................. 229
Appendices ................................................................................... 273
Annexes ...........................................................................................................................

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List of Figures & Tables
Table 1 Migration to two selected German lands ....................................................... p. 96
Table 2 Overview of the respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics ......Appendix 1
Table 3 Delineation of Models: Meaning of Migrant Motherhood .......................... p. 142
Table 4 Motherhood Ideal Type Models ............................... Folded Insert - Appendix 2
Figure 1 Relationships between ideal-type models ..........................................Appendix 3
Figure 2 Transition to ‘Migrant Motherhood’ ..................................................Appendix 4
Annexes
Figure 3 Research Design Model ............................................................... Annex 1
Interview Guide (English & Polish versions) .................................................... Annex 2
Information for Participants (English & Polish versions) ................................ Annex 3
Consent Form (Polish & English versions) ....................................................... Annex 4

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Chapter 1: Introduction
“I wanted to write a book on motherhood because it was
a crucial, still relatively unexplored area for feminist theory.
But I did not choose this subject, it had long ago chosen me”
/Adrianne Rich, Of Woman Born, 1976:15/

This study of Polish migrant mothers in Germany and in the United Kingdom
sheds light on their diverse entanglements within the multiple dimensions that shape their
parenting in foreign surroundings.
Illustratively, one nice September morning, as I was attending a mother-toddler
playgroup I had joined with my son, Kasia – one of my fellow migrant mothers from
Poland – appeared at the meeting for the first time after having her second child a couple
of months before. She sounded quite defeated when she openly stated that becoming a
mother is an experience hard enough to go through in your own country, so no one should
ever voluntarily choose to do it elsewhere unless they absolutely had to. This prompted a
heated debate between the local and migrant mothers coming from various countries
around the globe, from which it transpired that even within the very small representation of
Polish mothers that attended the same meeting, there was no consensus on the matter since
many of the Polish mothers believed that the exact opposite of what Kasia had earlier
stated was true. Among the “cons”, they listed the ‘dreadful’ healthcare conditions, high
costs of living, mentioned the nosiness of their in-laws and neighbours that never just ‘let
the mothers be’, and expressed an overall discontent with the lack of support and respect
from the Polish state for women in general, and mothers in particular. Those arguments,
foregrounding the benefits of migrant motherhood, were made just as other women spoke
about the profoundly negative consequences that the absence of friends and family
continues to have – both during the early days with a new-born, and facing the problems
with rearing toddlers and older children. They recounted numerous struggles caused by
their teenagers growing up with a different cultural (and national) identity, and the parental
sacrifice of their own language and ‘not being at home’. Finally, with no consensus
reached, one had to think that perhaps the experience of a migrant mothering is a little bit
of both. This thesis seeks to employ a gender perspective in addressing such complexities
and showcase the heterogeneity of experiences among women who have migrated from
Poland to Western Europe.
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