Contribution of Eliza Orzeszkowa to the Promotion of Women’s Issues and Shaping the Educational Aspirations of Young Polish Women in the Second Half of the 19th Century

Abstract

In the second half of the 19th century, in the Polish lands, the women’s issue became an important social issue. It affected women of average social strata. This included issue of girls’ education, preparing them for gainful employment and the jobs that are suitable for women in places where they would not represent competition for men. These issues were also raised by Eliza Orzeszkowa, a well-known writer and journalist. She advocated a thorough education of women in the direction corresponding to their abilities and interests. She demanded reform of the education of girls in the family, and especially taking care of their harmonious physical, mental and moral development. She drew attention to errors committed by parents and pointed out ways to fix them. Presenting in her novels and stories the fate of women who have been forced by the conditions of life to take up gainful employment and did not have the required preparation for it, emphasized the need to ensure that every girl would get professional training in the direction chosen by her. In journalistic texts, she indicated the purpose and methods of proper upbringing and education of female youth. Contribution of Eliza Orzeszkowa to the promotion of women’s issue and shaping the educational aspirations of young Polish women in the second half of the nineteenth century is thus difficult to overestimate and therefore has become the subject of this discussion.