Sustainable development has been recognized as a paradigm for considering a future in which environmental, social, and economic concerns are balanced in the pursuit of improving quality of life. The ideals and principles behind this paradigm are based on the concepts of generational and gender equality, social tolerance, poverty reduction, environmental protection and restoration, natural resource conservation, and the building of fair and peaceful societies. This book identifies and characterizes selected aspects of women's functioning in modern societies, in the context of the goals, assumptions and challenges of sustainable development. It offers an innovative, multidimensional perspective on the potential and role of women in the context of sustainable development. The book is divided into five chapters. The first is dedicated to the role of women in the modern economy and their demographic and social characteristics in the European Union. The second focuses on the role of women in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including the perspective of EU horizontal policies. The third offers an analysis of women's living conditions in the EU, in terms of their social, professional and economic situation and leisure time management. The next chapter considers female entrepreneurship in the EU in terms of social and geopolitical changes, while the final one is devoted to the analysis of the situation of women in selected industry markets. The book summarizes interdisciplinary research questions, focusing on sustainability, gender, human rights and the economy and the trends, tendencies, dependencies and results will be an important source of comparison for academic researchers and a starting point for further in-depth analyses. <!----> <!----> <!----> <!---->

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to present and assess changes in the level and structure of con-sumption of urban and rural households in Poland. Research method – The data used in the article were obtained from the publications of Central Sta-tistical Office on the results of household budget surveys, including the “Socio-economic situation of households, urban-rural diversity” as well as from literature on the subject. The research covered the years 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020. The selection of years was determined by the willingness to observe the changes that were visible in the budgets of these households after Poland had joined the European Union. The analysis applies analytical methods, including comparative and literature analyzes, as well as descriptive and monographic methods. The applied research method should be defined as a descriptive analysis with elements of quantitative analysis. Simple statistical methods were used to analyze the col-lected data. They comprised indicators of the structure of consumer spending and household con-sumption, including the food index and the index of free choice expenditures, as well as quantitative food consumption indexes, expressed in natural units, and durable goods expressed in % of house-holds being equipped with a given good. The research results are presented with the use of graphic presentation methods, especially the tabular ones. Results – Household consumption in Poland is determined by a combination of many macro and microeconomic, as well as non-economic factors. In the years 2005–2020, they affected the situation of Polish households as a certain set of factors having impact of various severity and different directions.Together, they caused changes both in the level and structure of consumer spending and in the very consumption of urban and rural households. Based on the conducted analysis, it can be concluded that in 2005–2020 the decrease in the differences between the living conditions of urban and rural house-holds, measured by their consumption expenditure and the consumption of food and non-food pro-ducts was observed. However, rural households still have a lower level of expenditure per 1 person compared to urban households. There are also differences in the structure of consumer spending. Rural households are characterized by a higher share of basic spending and a lower share of free choice expenditure. Despite the progress that has been noted, rural households are still characterized by a less rational model of food consumption and a slightly lower level of being equipped with modern ICT goods.

Motivation: The studies on sustainable consumption are conducted in Poland and worldwide on the basis of various source data. Macroeconomic perspective is one of research approaches. The data obtained from the system of national accounts are especially important for the assessment of the situation in Poland. As a result of research specific indicators are obtained which express changes in various areas of functioning of consumption entities in the perspective of sustainable consumption. Aim: to indicate the main trends of research on sustainable consumption in macroeconomic approach in Poland and to recognise the changes in the area of sustainable consumption on the basis of indicators adopted in the research on sustainable development conducted by Central Statistical Office. Results: In Polish official statistics, the process of tracing sustainable development which includes sustainable consumption as an integral part, can be conducted with the use of the set of indicators monitoring four main orders, i.e. social, economic, environmental and institutional, as well as political order. Indicators related to the patterns of sustainable consumption are located in the group of indicators of social order and include such measures as the structure of average monthly expenditure per capita in households by type, the structure of passenger cars by age groups and electricity consumption in households per capita. Conducted research shows that in the years 2004–2019 favourable changes were reported in Poland in the structure of individual consumption in the household sector. They were related to the decrease in the value of the food index and the increase in the expenditures free choice indicator. At the same time, the data from Central Statistical Office shows that a regression was observed in the other two research areas, i.e. the structure of passenger cars by age and energy consumption in households.