TY - JOUR N2 - The author considers the mechanisms limiting women’s access to power and the validity of their advance to positions of authority. She uses research into two extremely different social institutions–the Italian Mafia and the Polish Sejm (parliament)–in an attempt to illustrate that the contemporary process of redefining traditional cultural concepts of gender is not only an indicator of the spread of pro-equality attitudes but could equally well be considered an element of activity intended to preserve the patriarchal order. From this viewpoint, the ad hoc reconstructing of cultural concepts of gender is chiefly aimed at maintaining the constituting principle of the patriarchy–maintaining men’s domination at the price of breaking men’s monopoly on power. This process could therefore be perceived also as a symptom of the durability of the patriarchal model of social ties. L1 - http://czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/86858/PDF/Journal10276-Volume58_Issue1-05_paper.pdf L2 - http://czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/86858 PY - 2014 IS - No 1 EP - 95 DO - 10.2478/kultura-2014-0015 KW - Poland KW - Italy KW - gender KW - democratic systems KW - power A1 - Malinowska, Ewa PB - Komitet Socjologii PAN PB - Instytut Studiów Politycznych PAN DA - 2014 T1 - Problems of Women’s Power and the Type of Social Organization - the Italian Mafia and the Polish Sejm SP - 79 UR - http://czasopisma.pan.pl/dlibra/publication/edition/86858 T2 - Kultura i Społeczeństwo ER -