Far fewer studies on women and gender have been published in Poland than in the West. The last decade has seen growing interest in gender history among Polish scholars. The first general history of Polish women in the early modern times was published by Dr. Bogucka in Polish in 1998; Women in Early Modern Polish Society, Against the European Background constitutes an expansion, as well as a translation into English, of that seminal work. It makes available for the first time, to women's studies scholars in the West, a treasury of scholarship about women in Poland from the 16th to the 18th century. Bogucka examines the role of women's work in the countryside and in towns; the impact of Reformation on the situation of women; the participation of women in the creation and consumption of culture; women's roles in political life; and the legal status of women in Poland as compared to those in the West and in Central and Eastern Europe.

Contents: Introduction; Phases of women's lives; Women and economic life; Women and religion; Great debates about women; Patterns of female behaviour; Women and culture; Women and politics; Polish women in comparative context; Index.