Planning for the future in the shadow of the polycrisis: Young women's uncertain transitions to adulthood

Abstract

This paper explores the complexities of young women's gendered orientations to the future, contextualised within the realities of a ‘polycrisis’ era of compounded global uncertainties, constituting a formative generational experience. Through an investigation of 31 qualitative interviews with young women living in Poland (ages 18–35), analytically represented by four biographical cases, we explore individual experiences and biographical futures within broader social and structural tensions surrounding transitions to adulthood in education, employment, housing, and family. By applying Brannen and Nilsen's typology of temporal orientations and recalibrating it to the post-pandemic context, this study reveals that – in response to the all-embracing uncertainty – adaptability has become a leading strategy for navigating life in the face of multiple crises. Adaptability, which can be experienced in different ways (as an enjoyable orientation, an accepted rational strategy, or a forced and unwanted burden), can emerge as a sole orientation or overlap with other types. Moreover, the selected cases illustrate how ideas about the future are shaped by age, social class and family situation.