The end of Communist rule brought a new debate about women's role in Polish society. After 1989, many Poles began to associate women's rights with the enforced equality of the discredited Communist past. Under Communism, the family structure was especially important. Parents supported their grown children until they became self-sufficient, while also caring for their aging parents and grandparents.

In the economic slump of the 1980s, urban food shortages often were alleviated by exchanges with rural relatives.The nuclear family is getting smaller in modern Poland, but the extended family is still central in Polish life. This often includes important people who are not relatives -- in everyday language "sister" and "brother" can mean "cousin," and frequently, "aunties" and "uncles" may be family friends.