ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on some aspects of the question how, in what were the Polish lands, the war influenced relations between the sexes and relations within Polish families. Using qualitative material – primarily journals, memoirs and diaries, as well as letters and the press – it investigates to what extent the war led to changes on these fronts. We see change related to different war-related mechanisms. First, the start of armed conflict resulted in many hastened marriages, which sometimes translated into greater randomness of unions, and therefore lesser stability. The war also contributed – as it did in other countries – to skewing the ratio of men to women, especially among the young generations. It left its mark especially on the lives of women, who very often became – temporarily or permanently – the sole breadwinners of their families. This in turn played a part in women gaining independence, which they were not happy to relinquish after warfare was over. Sources testify of partings induced by women’s taste of independence combined with prolonged separation – unfortunately, though, quantitative data are hard to come by. Finally, there are signs of lasting change in the relations between the sexes in the public sphere.
