Marysia – czyli słów kilka o rozumieniu kobiet i kobiecości w XIX wieku .......... 673

MARY – A COUPLE OF THOUGHTS ON THE UNDERSTANDING OF WOMEN AND FEMININITY IN THE XIXTH CENTURY

This paper discusses the social position of women in the 19th Century. By analyzing literary and philosophical texts, as well as cultural paradigms and symbols, I attempt to present: specificity of a woman’s position, her capabilities, and her treatment and perception by society. Above all I focus on the objectification of women, as well as their systemic and deliberate marginalization which occurred in the culture. The 19th century women’s suffrage movement allows us to realize how women attempted to change their position from being perceived as an object to being commonly acknowledged as a subject endowed with identity.