Działania Związku Pracy Obywatelskiej Kobiet na rzecz pomocy rodzinie

Abstract

The Women Citizens’ Work Association (Związek Pracy Obywatelskiej Kobiet – ZPOK) (1928–1939) was one of the most influential women’s organisations related to the Sanation movement in the Interwar Period in Poland. At the time of its greatest development it included nearly 50,000 members. Its work was carried out by Agencies located all over the country. The Association had ideological and political ties to the Sanation movement, which is why its main aim was the development of the political state-forming thought of Józef Piłsudski. In the political aspect it would attempt to implement the rules of real democracy by disseminating and developing the idea of Polish statehood and by making it possible for women to have direct influence on political, social, economic, and cultural life of Poland. In the social aspect, the Association would establish and develop a number of social services agencies, educational institutions, and cooperative manufactories, which were intended to, among others, support and empower the family, thus strengthening the new state. The main aim of the ZPOK was to help the family, especially mothers and children from the families of the unemployed, the poor, the ill, and alcoholics. The help would take on many forms. The Association established and ran i.a. Houses of Mother and Child, mother and child care centres, nurseries, kindergartens and Jordan gardens, day rooms, summer camps and day camps. It provided food for children of unemployed parents and organised legal, medical, psychological, and pedagogical advice centres. The Association would address issues crucial to the family, including upbringing, legal, economic, moral, and ethical problems. The broad scope of the Association’s work allowed for the strengthening of the family’s position in social, political, and moral life and for the improvement of the quality of life of numerous families in the Interwar Period.