Mieszkanki wsi wobec zarządzania gminą

One of the public activity forms by rural women is participation in the local community management processes, although traditionally women’s role in this sphere has been marginal. The latter can be partially explained by people’s attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, views, and opinions. The aim of this article is to present rural women’s attitudes to the co-management of their commune (in Polish: gmina) in three dimensions: cognitive (ideas and knowledge about management), behavioural (interest, willingness to participate, and participation in management), and emotional (evaluation of and satisfaction with the actions of authorities, trust in these entities). The unfolding analysis is based on a study conducted in selected gminas in Poland’s Łódzkie Voivodeship on a sample of 700 people as part of the ‘Management Models and Their Determinants in Rural Communes’ project co-financed by the National Science Centre. The studied women were not willing to participate in management, adopted passive and conservative attitudes, and accepted the model of management through representation rather than co-management. These results seem to contradict the theses about women’s high potential for participation in co-management. This finding is not a good prognosis for the future, as it may constitute yet another barrier in the development of a more participatory and democratic concept of rural management.