The years 1905-1918 comprise an important period in the history of the women's movement in Polish lands. In the changing situation this particular milieu was forced to take a stand vis a vis the essential problems of national, socio-economic and political life. National conventions, organised from 1905 to 1917, followed by meetings, were one of the symptoms of activity. They became a forum for cooperation and an exchange of views as well as for creating national ties and sanctioning heretofore trends of work. Moreover, they acted as a source of impulses for further activity. The programmes of the discussed conventions reflected the most relevant questions of the Polish feminist movement: the participation of women in educational activity, emancipation, and the struggle for independence. The conventions revealed the potential of the women's movement, fully prepared for conducting a struggle for the preservation of Polishness in terrains threatened with losing their national character. During the WW I and occupation they took an active part in pro-independence efforts and were capable of popularising the question of equal rights in assorted domains. In doing so, however, they did not manage to avoid conflicts and divisions.
The paper explores the close connection between social work and feminist movement and theory. The tradition and history of social work are incomplete without social workers – women activists. The aim of the paper is to examine the historical context of the professionalization of social work in close connection with the first wave of feminism, and to interrogate positions which refuse feminist approaches in social work as marginal, ideological – not objective, or curious and even dangerous, improper. Women’s movement is one of the sources of development and professionalization of social work. Political and social activism of many outstanding women – “Mothers” of social work – was an integral part of their professional career. This aspect of their lives is, however, all too often “forgotten” in textbooks. The importance of pride, roots and the tradition is a fundamental aspect for every social work graduate and practitioner, especially as the status of social work in society has been falling.
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