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‘Caregivers with a Heart Needed’: The Domestic Care 
Regime in Poland after 1989 and Ukrainian Migrants
Myroslava Keryk
Social Policy and Society / Volume 9 / Issue 03 / July 2010, pp 431 ­ 441
DOI: 10.1017/S147474641000014X, Published online: 01 June 2010
Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S147474641000014X
How to cite this article:
Myroslava Keryk (2010). ‘Caregivers with a Heart Needed’: The Domestic Care Regime in Poland 
after 1989 and Ukrainian Migrants. Social Policy and Society, 9, pp 431­441 doi:10.1017/
S147474641000014X
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http://journals.cambridge.org Downloaded: 25 Aug 2013 IP address: 130.243.57.230
Social Policy & Society 9:3, 431–441
C Cambridge University Press 2010 doi:10.1017/S147474641000014X
‘Caregivers with a Heart Needed’: The Domestic Care Regime
in Poland after 1989 and Ukrainian Migrants
M y r o s l a v a K e r y k
Lazarski School of Commerce and Law, Warsaw
E-mail: m_keryk@yahoo.com
The article discusses the welfare regime that emerged in Poland after the collapse of
communism and the introduction of the market economy. It analyses policy in the sphere
of child and elderly care, and household strategies related to care. It is argued that the
care regime in Poland is a combination of the conservative and the social-democratic
model. On the one hand, the state provides equal labour market access to women and
men. On the other hand, publicly funded child and elder care is insufficient, resulting in
a care deficit. The situation has created demand for domestic care workers, and while
Polish women do such work, it is increasingly performed by migrant women, particularly
from Ukraine. To summarise, the article argues how gender and care regimes in Poland
boost the domestic work sector, where Ukrainian migrants play an important role, and
how this development has contributed to changes in the Polish migration regime.
Introduction
Poland presently is regarded as both a sending and a host country in terms of migrant
domestic care work. Labour migration from Poland to other EU countries started as early
as the 1970s. As a consequence of the collapse of socialism and the introduction of the
market economy, however, the out-migration process has intensified, and, at the same
time, due to uneven economic development in the region, Poland has become a host
country in migration terms. The political and economic transformation of the Polish state
has affected, amongst others, the care regime at the level of the state and the family.
With the decrease of state provision of care, the obligations of the family to provide
care have increased, while women have continued to be seen as the main providers of
care for children and elderly people. Thus, care is not shared between spouses; rather,
in households experiencing a care deficit, it is grandparents and/or female paid domestic
care workers, either Polish or migrant, who fill the gap. Political and structural changes
in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989 caused the influx of migrant women, especially
from Ukraine, and it is they who have become a dominant group among migrant domestic
and care workers. This situation raises the question as to which welfare regime was
created in Poland after 1989: a liberal, a conservative or a social-democratic one? Or is
Poland rather a hybrid model as suggested by Bj¨orn Hacker (2009) or a ‘laboratory of
experimentation’ as Esping-Andersen (1990, 1996) suggests? What is the role of Polish
domestic care workers in this system, and why do migrants from Ukraine participate in
the domestic care work labour market?
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Myroslava Keryk
In the following, a distinction is made between the macro- and the micro-level.
Migration and family policy, especially state policy in the sphere of care provision,
constitutes the macro-level for the purposes of this article, and will be examined through
an analysis of political decisions, legal documents and the activity of state institutions
since 1989. The micro-level relates to the response of households to the state’s social
policies, and, in particular, the role that the employment of migrant domestic carers
plays in household care strategies. As illustration of the latter, the article draws on the
findings from qualitative research conducted in Warsaw in 2009 with employers of migrant
domestic care workers and migrant domestic workers from Ukraine. In particular, the
article develops two case studies of Polish householders, Piotr and Ewa, who employ
or have employed migrant (Ukrainian) domestic care workers. Piotr has employed two
Ukrainian women for the care of his three children. Over a period of 15 years, Ewa has
employed around 15 women from Ukraine to look after her 95-year-old mother, who has
dementia and is in need of constant care. Additionally, Oksana, a nurse from Western
Ukraine who cares for an elderly woman with dementia, and who is often asked to find
Ukrainian workers for other Polish families, provides a case study of a migrant domestic
care worker.
The article is structured as follows: in the first section, the Polish welfare regime, as
it has developed since 1989, will be outlined. It will be argued that Poland represents a
hybrid form of the conservative and socio-democratic models of the welfare state. This has
repercussions for how people reconcile work and family life – paying for domestic/care
work is one of the strategies. In the second section, Poland’s policy on labour migration
will be examined. It will be argued that since the early 1990s, this policy has been
changing from a passive non-immigration policy towards an active, albeit chaotic policy,
which was a reaction to a labour-force drain from Poland, particularly since joining the EU
in 2004. Finally, empirical data on migrant domestic work – one of main immigrant labour
market sectors in Poland – and the role of Ukrainian migrants in it will be presented.
The welfare regime in Poland
Until recently, scholars who studied welfare regimes from a gender perspective believed
that the process of transition from socialism to capitalism in the post-socialist states of
Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) was occurring at a pace and in ways that were generally
similar (Glass and Fodor, 2007). Lately, the volume of research on the formation of
welfare regimes in relation to gender roles in CEE states has increased, and is based on
comparative case studies. These studies underline substantial differences in the types of
welfare regimes emerging in CEE states post-1989, particularly in relation to areas of
family policy, policies around gender equality in the labour market, and the gendered
dimensions of migration policy (see, for example, Jordan, 2006; Saxonberg and Szelewa,
2007; Glass and Fodor, 2007; Szelewa and Polakowski, 2008; Plomien, 2009). In this
context, the Polish welfare regime has come under scrutiny (see, for example, Butler,
1995; Saxonberg and Szelewa, 2007; Glass and Fodor, 2007; Szelewa and Polakowski,
2008; Plomien, 2009; Hacker, 2009). The Polish system of care provision and access to the
labour market by women and men is classified as implicit familialism, based on residual
policies of care and employment (Szelewa and Polakowski, 2008), where limited state
support for working mothers becomes an obstacle to the fair sharing of paid and unpaid
labour within families (Paskall and Kwak, 2005; Plomie´n, 2009). Moreover, Poland and
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‘Caregivers with a Heart Needed’
CEE states are classified as dual-earner models, despite attempts to implement policies of
re-familialisation or re-traditionalisation (Pascall and Manning, 2000; Pascall and Kwak,
2005), and are exemplary of several types of childcare provision (Szelewa and Polakowski,
2008; Plomien, 2009).
The welfare regime that was established in Poland after 1989 is the effect of political
decisions taken by Polish governments regarding economic and welfare policies. In the
1990s, the Solidarity government intended to make a marked break from the communist
past and began to promote conservative values and a traditional family structure with
prescribed gender roles. The government supported a policy of re-familialisation, which
implied the withdrawal of women from the labour market in order to raise their children
at home. At that time, the general unemployment rate was high and there was limited
funding to support public care institutions. By encouraging women to withdraw from the
labour market, the government intended to give jobs to men and also to allocate care of
children to mothers, thereby allowing a reduction in state responsibility in this area. In
the period after 1989, state policy went through a transformation from the support of the
single-male breadwinner model to the dual-earner model in the mid 2000s. This happened
due to economic and social reasons, in particular, the need to sustain household incomes,
and because of the professional aspirations of women. Moreover, under the influences of
EU membership, globalisation and demographic changes, the Polish government came
under pressure to modify the welfare system, including the development of family-friendly
employment reforms (Plomien, 2009). In sum, the state assigns responsibility for the care
for children and elderly people mainly to families. As a result of this gendered care
responsibility, women have less access to the labour market than men. However, recently
introduced policies seek to facilitate women’s access to the labour market and provide
better child-care support. Therefore, the social policy and welfare regime in Poland may,
arguably, be classified as a hybrid of conservative and social-democratic elements. This
welfare regime brought about higher rates of activity in the labour market among women
and, because of the absence of institutional state support, it made possible the involvement
of Polish and migrant women in remunerated domestic care work.
State provision of care
Although Poland has, in the main, a home-based system of care, the state shares some of
the care obligations. Maternity leave and parental leave provisions, for example, are in
place. The former has 100 per cent remuneration, and its length has been extended over
time, from 14 weeks to 18–20 weeks at present. Parental leave is three years long, and has
a means-tested benefit attached. Families in which the average income of each member
is below 504 PLN (118 euros) are entitled to modest support; this limit does not change
even when the minimum wage increases. As a consequence, few families are entitled to
receive such support. (Plomien, 2009).
The Polish state provides public childcare institutions, nurseries and kindergartens,
according to the age of children (1–3 and 3–6 years old respectively). Even during the
socialist period, Poland provided only limited support for organised childcare; after 1989,
such care became the responsibility of local authorities whose financial support decreased
and as a consequence the number of care institutions also diminished (Muczy´nski and
ynel, 2008). Moreover, their services are rather unaffordable for a majority of families: the
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Myroslava Keryk
estimated price of a nursery place as a proportion of net average income is 10–14 per cent
in a public facility and 46–79 per cent in a private facility (Plomien, 2009). Kindergartens
and nurseries in Poland are in high demand, but their number is insufficient and the
need for nurseries grows despite negative opinions about them. They are regarded as
offering a low quality of care, which is partly linked to their socialist legacy, and negative
associations with that system. As one Polish employer of Ukrainian nannies, Piotr,
indicated:
We are absolutely sure that we do not want our children to be in a nursery . . . we have a bad
opinion about the way they take care of children in nurseries . . . they are not able to take care
of a child, because there are many children, and it is a factory, and a child needs someone who
will play with him/her, who will really be with him/her.
The nurseries’ negative reputation does not make it easy to lobby for more and improved
public-care for small children.
Care for old and disabled people in Poland is also perceived as the obligation of the
family, and should be conducted at home. The state provides several types of assistance to
elderly people: besides the pension, there is assistance from nurses (siostry ´srodowiskowe)
and institutional care. The number of stationary social institutions for aged persons in
Poland increased from 199 to 298 during the years 2000–2007; however, the number of
places in public institutions is not sufficient and there are waiting lists (Central Statistical
Office, 2008). There is also opposition to such institutions, which can be traced back
to an aversion to ‘all things public’ that developed under communism. Sending elderly
parents to such institutions is still perceived of negatively, as it violates the tradition that
children should take care of their elderly parents privately, rather than trusting them with
anonymous public institutions that are run by a government with little or no legitimacy
and provide a Soviet-type service. Ewa, who employs migrant elderly-care workers, put
it this way:
We should start by saying that in these homes in Poland, no one takes care of old people, they
are placed in front of the table and they just sit nodding there, that’s all! And they are just
watched so as not to fall down or get hungry.
The decision to go to a public care institution has to be made by the person in need of
care autonomously; often they tend to be hesitant:
If I were to tell my mother that she is leaving home and will go to some care house, she would
not survive this. The public care institutions require that the person asks for that (care) house.
(Ewa)
Private institutions are available in Poland and their number is growing, however,
their price is high. Ewa indicated that in Warsaw the average price of a private care house
is 1,800 PLN per month (422 euros), but that the quality is even lower than that of public
institutions. One of the solutions for elderly care is the employment of a caregiver whose
work can be constructed as ‘family care’.
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‘Caregivers with a Heart Needed’
Consequences of state welfare policy
The conservative care regime established in Poland in the 1990s, and the changes that
occurred in the economy and the position of women in society, had an impact on Poland’s
demography. It led to a decrease in the birth rate in Poland and the state’s ranking as 26th
among the 27 in the EU in terms of fertility rates. Women who want to have children and
to continue their professional career have to rely on the support of family members for
childcare, or look outside the family for a caregiver. Those who could not afford to employ
a care worker or who lack help from parents withdrew from their professional career to
the domestic sphere. Their return to professional activity after three years of parental
leave is hampered by a competitive labour market. Moreover, after returning from that
leave women had problems keeping the positions and salaries they had before that leave.
Since care is currently perceived in Poland as mainly a woman’s responsibility, employers
prefer to employ men instead (Plomien, 2009). Men are still perceived in Poland as the
main breadwinners, and fathers have higher rates of employment than non-fathers: among
those aged 25–47, the employment rate of men without children is 72.6 per cent, while for
those with one child it is 83.3 per cent, rising to 86.6 per cent for those with two children,
and falling-off slightly to 83.3 per cent for those with three or more children (Plomie´n,
2009). In contrast, motherhood has the opposite effect on women’s employment rate:
among women aged 25–47, the employment rate for non-mothers is 74.1 per cent, but
69.6 per cent, 66.9 per cent and 57.0 per cent respectively for those with one, two and
three child/ren (ibid.).
The demographic problems and demands of mothers to remain professionally active
led to discussions about improvements in the provision of state care and support for
the equal participation of women in the labour market. Crucial in this discussion was
the accession of Poland to the European Union and adhesion to the Lisbon Strategy.
Poland was recommended to introduce principles on the equality of the sexes in
the labour market, and to commit to the provision of childcare institutions (‘Annual
country assessments’, 2008). In 2007, the conservative governing party, Law and Justice,
elaborated the Project of Family Policy for 2007–2014, which was later approved by the
centrist-liberal government of Civic Platform, and through which several improvements
in childcare were introduced. According to changes in the Labour Code and other laws
relating to the provision of support to women in childcare and their access to the labour
market, the maternity leave was increased from 18 to 20 weeks; and between 2009 and
2014 will be extended by a further two weeks each year. Men are entitled to up to four
weeks of paternity leave (Dz.U. nr 237, poz. 1654). Moreover, the Labour Code has been
changed to oblige employers to secure employment and salary for parents returning from
maternity leave. Still, the achievements in the state provision of childcare and the equality
of women and men in the labour market are modest.
Presently, state policy provides little or no support for the employment of a domestic
care worker. The possibility to deduct from tax the payment of a migrant for work in
domestic care was introduced and cancelled in 2007. The procedure turned out to be
too complicated and the advantages rather minimal, since it was possible to employ a
foreigner as a domestic carer on the basis of a work permit valid for only for 90 out
of 180 days. Currently, the government is considering the possibility of a tax-deduction
for the employment of nannies (Plomien, 2009). If introduced, the policy could have a
dual effect – the regularisation of that sphere of employment and income for the state,
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Myroslava Keryk
but also lower salaries for employees and an increase in spending for employers along
with the need to fulfil bureaucratic procedures, which would probably cause a limited
popularity for the tax deduction. Such procedures could be even more complicated in
the case of migrants, and thus limit the popularity of this deduction. For both employers
and employees, non-regularised work in domestic care continues to be more financially
rewarding than regularised work; therefore, migrants will continue to enter this section of
the labour market.
Poland’s labour migration policy
After 1989, Poland faced increased out migration of Poles to EU states and the immigration
(temporary/shuttle/permanent) of citizens from neighbouring countries to Poland. The
discussions about the need for a state migration policy intensified only in the 2000s, before
Poland’s accession to the EU. In the 1990s, the state allowed migrants to come to Poland
on tourist visas and tolerated their undocumented work. After EU accession, the visa
regime became more restrictive, yet at the same time shortages in the Polish labour market
provoked demands for migrant workers. In the context of economic growth during 2005–
2008, employers lobbied for migrant workers to be allowed entry into Poland. At the same
time, the EU demanded tighter controls on the external borders and for irregular migration
to be curbed. Since most migrants in Poland were staying and working irregularly up to
this point, there arose a need to regularise the migrants’ existence and bring them out of
the twilight zone. The Polish government introduced a document confirming employment
intention for Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians in 2007 (at the beginning for 90 days
during a 180-day period, presently for 180 days during a 360-day period). During 2008,
156,105 people received such a document; however, the weakness of these data is that
not everyone who received the document works in their declared sphere or even comes to
Poland (Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, 2008). Moreover, in 2009, the government
introduced some facilitation in the complicated procedure of receiving work permits and
expanded the list of foreigners and professions exempted from the obligation to apply
for work permits. Still, this easing of the rules governing migrants’ entry and their access
to the labour market was a consequence of the economic growth that Poland was then
enjoying and the question thus is whether this situation will change in a time of economic
crisis.
Ukrainian migrants in domestic care in Poland
Poland became one of the destination countries of Ukrainian migration after the collapse
of the Soviet Union and the opening of borders. Migrants filled niches on the market of
low-skilled work (agriculture, construction and domestic care). The number of Ukrainians
working in Poland is difficult to pinpoint since their work is mainly irregular, but it is
estimated at about 50 thousand to 300 thousand people depending on the time of the
year (Bieniecki et al., 2008). In the 1990s and beginning of the 2000s, there was visafree
movement between Ukraine and Poland, and the Ukrainians that crossed the border
worked in different sectors. (Bieniecki et al., 2008; Kindler, 2008b). During 2003–2007,
with the accession of Poland to the EU, a visa regime was introduced for Ukrainians.
To receive such a visa was relatively easy, so many Ukrainians came to Poland to work
on tourist visas. At the end of 2007, Poland joined the Schengen zone and the visa
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‘Caregivers with a Heart Needed’
regime became restrictive and the access of Ukrainians to Poland more difficult. In 2008,
142,960 Ukrainians received the ‘document of employment intention’ (see above); only
7,614 of which were for domestic work. (‘Data on Employment of Foreigners’, 2008).
Thus, domestic care is still conducted in the twilight zone, both by Poles and migrants,
mainly Ukrainians.
Domestic care usually includes childcare and care for old and disabled people, as
well as other obligations related to work at home, such as cleaning, shopping, cooking,
ironing and such like. The work of migrants in this sphere in other national contexts
has received attention for some time now (for example, see Anderson, 1993; Parrenas,
2001; Lutz, 2008). Only very recently, however, has the Polish case become the focus of
research (Kindler, 2008a; Kindler, 2008b; Rosi´nska-Kordasiewicz, 2005; Samoraj, 2007).
Domestic work was and still is perceived by society as unpaid work and is usually the
obligation of women. With the appearance of non-family-member caregivers, whether
Polish or migrant women, this work has left the realm of unpaid reproductive work and
entered the realm of paid productive work.
Paid domestic care is a rather new phenomenon in Poland. Non-existent or hidden
in socialist Poland, it spread, especially in large cities in the 1990s, along with an influx
of migrants, especially from Ukraine. Limited care provision by the state meant that
Poles were looking for possibilities to meet their care deficit. The demand for a caregiver
grew with the improvement of the economic situation in Poland and the development
of an upper-middle and middle class, the main employers of domestic caregivers. The
communist legacy of women’s role as a working one, now enhanced by the ambitions of
women to be independent financially and successful in work, and combine this with a
family, had an impact on the domestic care system and the inclusion of outsiders in the
private sphere.
In the respondents’ opinion, public care institutions for children or old people
lack an individual approach to their charges, as opposed to home-based care workers,
who provide exactly this kind of individual relationship. The preference for Ukrainian
caregivers instead of public provision of care or the employment of Poles is based on
various explanations, the principal one being their availability in terms of time and types
of work done, price of services and market availability. Since Ukrainian women come to
Poland without families and to work, they do not have many other obligations or much
of a private life; thus, they can be available at any time of day and night. Ewa indicated:
The main reason (that Ukrainians work in care) is that when they come here they live together
with this ill person. They provide services 24 hours a day, with some breaks . . . they become
in a way a member of the family . . . this is very precious.
The availability of the caregiver is connected also with the types of obligations they
have. Besides care work, they do other jobs in the house: cleaning, cooking, shopping,
etc. The woman, who cares for Piotr’s children lives with his mother-in-law and also takes
care of her, by being a companion and doing cleaning or other housework. Piotr said:
She helps us with other work . . . We have three children and the advantages of having a nanny
are threefold: she does not take care of our 11 year-old son, but she is useful, because when
we are not at home, we know that nothing bad will happen . . . both of our nannies help us
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Myroslava Keryk
with house work, so if we ask them to cook, they will both cook without a problem . . . If there
is a need to clean the house, they will do this.
Ukrainians are the main migrant group working in Poland, including in domestic care.
Respondents indicated that they have no competitors on the market. However, cultural
differences and biases are the main obstacle in employing care workers of nationalities
other than Polish. Still, their availability in the market and relative proximity to Polish
culture made it possible to employ Ukrainians and, sporadically, Russians or Belarusians
as care workers. By contrast, migrants from other countries, for instance from Vietnam,
are rarely employed as domestic carers.
The further requirement of employers is the need for trust in the employee. Since the
migrant care worker is employed on the basis of a reference, this person has the trust
of their employer. In both the cases of Ewa and Piotr, this trust is built on the possibility
to control the migrant, which is much bigger than in the case of a Polish employee. By
living together or authorising various documents (residence permits or visas) for migrants,
employers gain access to information about them. With a Pole who would live separately
and have her own life, there would be no control of her, so for employers it would be
difficult to trust them. Piotr stated:
the trust we have is a very important issue . . . There is no possibility to have the control and
confidence in any other employee that I have in Galia. She lives in my house . . . I know all
about her . . . I can trust her with my whole house, all my money.
Employing a Ukrainian woman is financially attractive when compared to a Polish
one, especially when taking into account the salary in relation to the amount of work
this woman does. The average monthly salary for a live-in migrant woman in Warsaw
ranges from 1,500 to 1,800 PLN (respectively 351 and 422 euros – 4.11.2009), with
accommodation and food provision covered. This cost, therefore, is comparable with the
price of public care, even in private institutions, but a domestic worker can provide the
individual care and additional labour an institution cannot, and is thus preferred.
The language of Ukrainian women is perceived as an advantage and disadvantage.
For some employers it is important that migrant woman can teach their child another
language, as in the case of Piotr’s children. For him it was crucial that the nanny should
speak Russian well. Ewa believed that cultural differences were unimportant, in any case
very easy to overcome, since, according to Ewa, Ukrainians learn the Polish way of life
and language fast. However, for some Polish employers, the language issue could be
decisive in not employing a migrant. Parents are afraid that their children will speak with
an accent (Samoraj, 2007). Employers that address Oksana for a worker in childcare also
prefer someone with knowledge of Polish and generally favour a young person.
The legal status of migrants and the status of their work places have serious
implications for the conditions of the work and life of migrant women, as well as public
perceptions of them. Employers, on the one hand, protect their employees and help them,
especially with documents, and build emotional ties, but, on the other hand, due to the
character of the work and the place of work, they have the opportunity to exploit migrants.
This is facilitated by the fact that their work is unregulated (Kindler, 2008b). Abuses can
include: not giving days off or the possibility to invite friends or family to the home, and
a requirement to do unremunerated work. Moreover, due to feeling unprotected and the
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‘Caregivers with a Heart Needed’
fear of losing their job, migrants are reluctant to claim their rights. A friend of Oksana’s
hesitated to claim a free day and indicated that ‘it’s not possible, it is not acceptable, it’s
shameful and I cannot’ ask for it’.
Paid domestic care work in Poland is performed mainly in the twilight zone both by
Poles and migrants, so-called invisible carers (Peterson, 2007; Kindler, 2008b). The state
has made attempts to formalise migrants’ work in this sphere by introducing work permits
and facilitating the procedure to obtain them, but it is still problematic for migrants and
their employers. They use various possibilities to avoid bureaucratic procedures, as did
Piotr by recommending a Ukrainian woman, who works for him to pay for her studies. In
addition to the opportunity to gain a higher education, her student status helped her with
receiving a residence permit and facilitated the procedures to obtain visas. Her work as a
child carer remains undeclared.
Working in the private sphere could also be perceived as emotionally exhausting
for migrants, since employers require emotional devotion. In childcare, migrants usually
work during the day – the employers’ private space becomes their working place. They
usually live outside their employers’ house, which gives them more freedom. This was the
case for all of Piotr’s nannies and it is a usual pattern for other migrant women working in
childcare (Samoraj, 2007; Kindler, 2008a). In the case of elder care, migrant women live
with the person they take care of with few opportunities to leave the house on their own.
The employer’s house is their private and working space at the same time, something that
is psychologically difficult. To survive emotionally, as Oksana indicated, some women
change jobs and work as cleaners, while those who are tired with physical work switch
to care.
Conclusion
Polish governments in the 1990s promoted a conservative welfare regime model.
However, the decrease of public support for childcare and elder care led to demographic
problems; it also increased inequality in women’s access to the labour market and
furthered the growth of a ‘twilight’ market in which both Poles and migrants performed
care work. To address the situation, the Polish government introduced changes intended
to make the welfare regime of Poland closer to a social-democratic model. Such a model
promotes women’s roles not only as mothers, but also as active in the labour market. The
Polish state, presently, is shifting in the direction of the promotion of equal entitlements
to social benefits: however, there is opposition to such a policy and a belief that benefits
should be income dependent, which is a consequence of the negative attitude to the
socialist past and ‘egalitarian’ principle applied at that time. Thus, the system which
is forming in Poland is a hybrid of post-communist conservativeness, with elements of
social-democratic models.
Moreover, due to the problems with the introduction of the single-breadwinner
model, there is a need for both parents to work in order to sustain the family, and thus there
is a necessity for the employment of a caregiver. This is the case for the care of old people
also. This niche has been filled by both Polish and migrant women from Ukraine; the latter
caused both by shifts in the gendered practices relating to work and care in Poland and the
migration policy of the state. In terms of the former, Polish and migrant women employed
as care workers replaced their female employers in the role of caregivers, allowing the
latter to remain professionally active. Since domestic care is performed exclusively by
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Myroslava Keryk
women, both Polish and migrant, such work is still perceived as mainly women’s work,
although recently men have been awarded paternity leave. To the degree that such a
provision is taken up by men, this policy could be expected to involve men in domestic
care and change the status of the sexes in the labour market and in the family. In terms of
migration policy, it was rather chaotic and governments’ decisions were made in reaction
to the existing situation. For a long period, governments tolerated undocumented migrant
workers, especially when their employment in domestic care replaced public care. Upon
joining the EU, Poland was obliged to strengthen its eastern border and introduce visas. It
was then that the Polish government realised the importance of migrants for the economy
and for its welfare regime and considered possibilities to facilitate the visa regime with
Ukraine. The Polish state, thus, started to elaborate a migration policy in order to provide
conditions for temporary migrant labour in Poland, in the domestic care sector, as well
as in other areas of the labour market.
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