WHY ARE WOMEN UNDERREPRESENTED IN THE POLISH EDUCATION SYSTEM’S LITERATURE CURRICULUM?

HOW DOES THAT AFFECT ROLE MODELING IN THE EYES OF YOUNG PEOPLE?

WHY ARE THE FEMALE VOICES SILENCED?

According to an analysis, among the 8 mandatory works for the Polish high school final exam, none are written by women. Out of approximately 150 books that the students read and discuss during their education, only 10 are written by female writers. 10 out of 150. Now how can the young minds, that are supposed to develop the world in the future, know the perspectives of both genders, if one is almost not included at all?

Female voices have been silenced through centuries. Their achievements unspoken by history, their characters forgotten by culture. The problem hasn’t stopped as it has been going on and on and on for ages. We think that sexual discrimination is a problem of the past, but it still exists in the present. Nowadays in more places we see less of it, but in some categories it’s still prevalent.

The Polish education system consists of a literature curriculum which is a group of works, both prosaic and poetic, that are supposed to be read and discussed in the literature lessons. These works are supposed to set the styles of thinking, pondering and discovering of the young minds. They are supposed to show different perspectives, different stories, teach lessons, confuse, create, please. But what’s most important in literature is to shape the minds of young people so that in the future they may see a certain problem from more angles. If not all angles are shown, how are they supposed to know different perspectives and approaches to a problem? How are they supposed to solve it?

Sexual discrimination is a thing and it is accurate in what is being taught to young people right now. If we don’t change the system, if we don’t modify the curriculum of literature, students will be simply simple-minded and closed. How’s that supposed to work out? How is the world supposed to work then?

In the Polish schools the most important writers are obviously Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki, Jan Kochanowski, Stefan Żeromski and Henryk Sienkiewicz. They’re all men. Their main characters? Also men. Heroic, charismatic, brave and sensitive. Oh… but really?

There’s another important aspect of current gender discrimination and it’s not about the authors but about the characters. I remember reading in school about national heroes, freedom fighters, tragic characters… but they were all men. I wondered, where are the women’s voices? Were they not writing? Or were they just not invited into the classroom? Female characters were mostly just lovers of the brave men. They were damsels in distress that needed to be saved. They never really had any character development or any important roles. But that’s not the worst thing about it all.

Those male characters that were the heroes, were also treated as masters that the young people should follow. But what was there really to follow? Men with scarred ideals and bad tempers? Jacek Soplica, a murderer? Wokulski, who became obsessed with a younger girl? Or Andrzej Kminić, a traitor? All of them were filled with lust, not heroism. Which is why I ask, should they be the masters and the main characters of stories that young minds are meant to read?

In middle school the only main female character is Balladyna, and we all know that she’s a crazy murderess. Is that really what we want to show children? That women, when they’re not in the background, they’re mad? That Medea and Circe were mad witches, and the brave heroes that left them alone – Jason and Odysseus were flawless?

Something’s got to change. With the perspective, with the curriculum. Otherwise, how are young people supposed to know black from white if there’s gray?

When the main characters are men, so are the role models. Female voices are silenced – but why? Is it because they aren’t as brave as men? Is it because they’re not as smart? Or is it because female characters are in fact better role models for the young minds to look up to?

When I read the mandatory books from the school’s literature curriculum, I often wonder, where’s the female character? The strong role model, the hero, the brave. But then I remember… she’s not there.