Feminism in Poland

[pjotr]

Feminism in Poland



The history of feminism in Poland has traditionally been divided into seven "waves," beginning in the 19th century.

First wave (1800–30)

Feminist ideas reached Poland considerably later than Western European countries – only in the 19th century. In that period, Poland experienced three successive waves of feminism (during that time the first feminist texts were produced); the first and weakest wave came before the November uprising of 1830. It was then that Klementyna z Tańskich Hoffmanowa wrote the first Polish text with ‘feminist’ features, Pamiątka po dobrej matce (Remembrance of a Good Mother) (1819). Although the author asserted the traditional social roles of wife and mother for Polish women, she nevertheless advocated the necessity of education for women as well.

Second wave (1830–63)

The second (and stronger) wave took place between the November and January uprisings. This wave was influenced by French ‘proto-feminist’ ideas: the literary works of George Sand and the newspaper La Gazette des Femmes (Women’s Daily). The leading advocate of feminism was the newspaper Przegląd Naukowy (Scientific Review). It published (among many others) articles by Narcyza Żmichowska (the Warsaw leader of the feminine group called "entuzjastki"), who advocated 'emancipation' and education for women. Żmichowska was also an active speaker, acting on behalf of women’s causes. The first Polish female philosopher, Eleonora Zimięcka, wrote Myśli o wychowaniu kobiet (Suggestions for Women's Education) (1843), which postulated that the most important aim in women’s education was forming their human nature and only afterwards – feminity.

Third wave (1870–1900)

Poland experienced the third (and strongest) wave after 1870, under preponderant Western influence. In this "wave," it is worth noting, men were principal advocates of the feminist cause: Adam Wiślicki published the article "Niezależność kobiety" ("Woman’s Independence") in Przegląd Naukowy (1870). This piece contained radical demands for equality of the sexes in education and the professions. In the same newspaper, Aleksander Świętochowski criticized Hoffmanowa’s books, which he said "transform women into slaves." Another newspaper, Niwa, pushed for women’s equality in education and work. The most radical feminist demands were included in Edward Prądzyński’s book O prawach kobiety (On Women’s Rights, 1873), which advocated full equality of the sexes in every domain.

The question of women’s emancipation was especially important at the University of Lwów (Lemberg). In 1874 a University lecturer, Leon Biliński, gave a series of lectures "O pracy kobiet ze stanowiska ekonomicznego" ("On Women’s Work from the Economic Standpoint"). He strongly supported women's intellectual and economic emancipation and their free access to higher education. His efforts later bore fruit — in 1897, the first female students graduated from Lwów University.

In Eliza Orzeszkowa’s literary output, the motif of feminine emancipation is particularly important. In her book Kilka słów o kobietach (A Few Words about Women, 1871) she stressed the fundamental human nature of every woman, perverted by society.

A major figure in Polish feminism in this period and later was Gabriela Zapolska, whose writings included classics such as the novel, Kaśka Kariatyda (Cathy the Caryatid, 1885–86).

In 1889 the newspaper Prawda (Truth) published an article by Ludwik Krzywicki, "Sprawa kobieca" (The Women’s Cause), which postulated that women’s liberation was inherent to the capitalist economy.

Fourth wave (1900–18)

The fourth – modernistic – wave of feminism reached Poland around 1900. While male writers focused on the ‘mysterious and mystic’ nature of women, female authors (e.g. Maria Konopnicka, Eliza Orzeszkowa) were occupied with more rational aspects of feminity. Zofia Nałkowska was especially active in the Polish women’s movement. Her speech Uwagi o etycznych zadaniach ruchu kobiecego (Remarks about Ethical Objectives of the Women’s Movement) during the Women’s Congress in Warsaw in 1907 condemned female prostitution as a form of polygamy. Nałkowska’s first novel, Kobiety (Women) (1906), and another novel, Narcyza (1910), denounced female passivity confronted with what she perceived as masculine domination.

Fifth wave (1920–40)

The fifth wave of Polish feminism took place in the interwar period (1920s and 1930s). Feminist discourses of that epoch (in Poland as well as in other countries) searched for new definitions of feminism and tried to identify new goals (there were doubts about whether to fight for full equality or rather for protective legislation). Almost every feminist (even radicals) believed that women had achieved their liberation. Róża Melcerowa expressed those feelings: Feminism (...) in fact ended among those nations where de iure had secured its object: social and political equality.

In Poland, however, feminists were remarkably active. Nałkowska continued to analyse women’s questions: in the novels Romans Teresy Hennert (Teresa Hennert’s Liaison) (1923) and Renata Słuczańska (1935) she dealt with the limits of women’s liberty in traditional society.

The 1920s saw the emergence of radical feminism in Poland. Its representatives, Irena Krzywicka and Maria Morozowicz-Szczepkowska, shared an aggressive rhetoric and advocated women’s deliverance from the emotional relationship with men ("fight against love") as the sole medium towards individual independence. Krzywicka and Tadeusz Żeleński (‘Boy’) both promoted planned parenthood, sexual education, rights to divorce and abortion, and strict equality of sexes. Krzywicka published a series of articles in Wiadomości Literackie (Literary News) (from 1926), Żeleński wrote numerous articles (Brewerie (Brawls) 1926, Dziewice konsystorskie (Consistory Virgins) 1929, Piekło kobiet (Hell for Women) 1930, Zmysły, zmysły (Libido, Libido) 1932, Nasi okupanci (Our Invaders) 1932), among others, in which he protested against interference by the Roman Catholic Church into the intimate lives of Poles. Both Krzywicka and Żeleński were exceptionally active speakers, promoting the ideas of feminism in the whole country. A different aspect of Polish feminism figures in the poetry and drama (Szofer Archibald (Chauffeur Archibald) 1924 and Egipska pszenica (Egyptian Wheat) 1932) of Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska. That author advocated a female erotic self-emancipation from social conventions.

The Second World War virtually silenced Polish feminists.

Sixth wave (1948–89)

After the Second World War, the situation of Polish women was very different from that of their Western European and American counterparts. The new Polish Communist state (established in 1948) forcefully promoted women’s emancipation in both family and work. That period is known as the sixth wave of Polish feminism. It was characterized by the considerable production of simple propagandist texts, advocating equality of sexes and a massive participation of women in the industrial production and farming (as exemplified by the popular slogan: Kobiety na traktory! (Women onto the tractor!)).



The sixth wave reached its peak with the legalization of abortion in 1956, which generated the production of polemical pro-choice texts. Afterwards, feminist voices were almost silenced (until 1989); the state considered feminist demands fulfilled, any open discussion about women’s problems was forbidden, only official (‘materialist’ and ‘Marxist’) feminist texts, mainly focused on taking off women the burden of ‘traditional’ female domestic work, were allowed. ‘Western’ feminism was officially prohibited and was practically absent in the Polish social life until 1989.

In Poland during the years 1940–1989, feminism in general, and second-wave feminism in particular, were practically absent. Although feminist texts were produced in the 1950s and afterwards, they were usually controlled and generated by the Communist state. In fact, any true and open feminist debate was virtually suppressed. Officially, any ‘feminism of Western type’ did not have the right to exist in the Communist state, which had supposedly granted to women every one of the main feminist demands.

Formally abortion was legalized in Poland almost 20 years earlier than in the USA and France (but later than in Scandinavian countries), equality of sexes was granted, sexual education was gradually introduced into schools, and contraceptives were legal and subsidised by the state. In reality, however, equality of sexes was never realized and contraceptives were of such a bad quality that abortion became an important method of planned parenthood. Those real problems were never officially recognized and any discussion of them was forbidden.

Seventh wave (1989–now)

That situation changed only with the fall of the Communist state in 1989. New democratic Poland experienced the seventh wave of feminism and was suddenly confronted with concepts of Western second-wave feminism that at once met with fierce opposition from the Roman Catholic Church. Western feminism has often been erroneously identified with the prior Communist reproductive policy, similar in some aspects, and feminism for that reason has often been regarded as ’suspect’.

In the beginning of the 1990s, Polish feminist texts often used the aggressive rhetoric related to feminist publications of the interwar period. That kind of ‘striking’ argumentation was more adequate in that epoch of violent polemics about prohibition of abortion. After the Polish government introduced the de facto legal ban on abortions (on January 7 , 1993), feminists have changed their strategies. Many Polish feminists since that event have adopted argumentative strategies borrowed from the American ‘Pro-Choice’ movement of the 1980s. In Polish feminist texts, the mixed argumentation of ‘lesser evil’ and ‘planned parenthood’ has prevailed. In fact this argument is contrary to the feminist ideology and has proved ineffective. The ban on abortions has appeared immovable. Both sexual education in schools and state funding of contraceptives have been strongly suppressed since 1998. But Polish feminism is seemingly undergoing change; new feminist books include Agnieszka Graff’s Świat bez kobiet (World without Women) (2001), which directly points out the contemporary phenomenon of women’s discrimination in Poland; and Kazimiera Szczuka’s Milczenie owieczek (Silence of the Flock) (2004), which passionately defends abortion and often takes positions directly related to the interwar period and radical French feminism, thus renouncing the hitherto dominant ‘moderate’ American argumentative strategies. Ewa Dąbrowska-Szulc expressed the necessity of changing the Polish feminist stance as well: "We [feminists] have lost a lot by these lessons of an appeased language we are still giving each other".

[Bonobo]

Wow, very informative presentation. I like those waves, Pjotr. ;D ;D ;D

In some aspects concerning women, Poland was ahead of Europe. E.g., the right to vote was given to Polish women in 1918, while in
Holland - 1919
US -1920,
Great Britain - 1928
France -1944
Italy - 1946

Simply incredible.

I am for full women liberation. Even in the church. ;D ;D ;D

[pjotr]

Jun 24, 2011 20:30:11 GMT 1 Bonobo said:

Wow, very informative presentation. I like those waves, Pjotr. ;D ;D ;D

In some aspects concerning women, Poland was ahead of Europe. E.g., the right to vote was given to Polish women in 1918, while in
Holland - 1919
US -1920,
Great Britain - 1928
France -1944
Italy - 1946

Simply incredible.

I am for full women liberation. Even in the church. ;D ;D ;D

So you are in favor of female Priests and and end to the Celibacy! ;D

[Bonobo]

Jun 24, 2011 12:34:46 GMT 1 pjotr said:

The history of feminism in Poland has traditionally been divided into seven "waves," beginning in the 19th century.

Just found an informative article about the real origins of Polish females` liberation:

www.poland.gov.pl/history/history-poland/womens-war/


The January Uprising of 1863 was the longest and largest Polish insurrection for independence of the 19th century. It broke another record too - the number of women who fought in its battles exceeded any previous armed struggles. The "Women's War", as the Uprising has been sometimes called, and great trauma it caused, brought enormous suffering, but, on the other hand, in its result, women’s emancipation became one of key questions addressed by the Polish Positivists. An indirect effect of the immense role women played in the Uprising was granting them suffrage shortly after regaining freedom and sovereignty. Polish women were one of the first in Europe to receive voting rights, i.e. as far back as in 1918.

Anna Henryka Pustowójtówna - a Polish activist and soldier, famed for her participation in the January Uprising.



"I am afraid of women." - wrote Tsar Nicholas I shortly after the November Uprising (1830-1831) to Ivan Paskevich, the Namestnik (Viceroy or Governor-General) of the Kingdom of Poland (Congress Poland), established on the territories occupied by the Russians - "This devilish nation has always acted through them [...]." Polish women were involved in the independence movement on many levels and with great devotion. Collective memory has primarily preserved images of mothers encouraging their sons to fight for their homeland, but in reality, women went far beyond their socially imposed role; they were engaged in underground education, cultural diplomacy and took part in both conspiratorial and combat activities.

The January Uprising was preceded by numerous peaceful religious and patriotic demonstrations, bloodily suppressed by authorities. Women participated actively in those protests: they raised money during masses, participated in religious services, took part in demonstrations and were often victims of brutal repressions by the Tsarist police and army. They were the ones who carried out educational and propaganda activities among peasants, whom they taught patriotism and persuaded to support national aspirations for independence.

Rebels

The culmination of their commitment was, of course, the outbreak of the uprising in January of 1863. Many women stood shoulder to shoulder with their menfolk in the armed fight against the oppressor. They cut off their long hair and put on men's clothing. Although in response to the widely commented death of three women in the battle of Dobra, the War Department of the National Government issued a ban on admitting women to insurrectional troops, they did not stop serving in the military, and the armed forces kept enlisting more women soldiers.

However, the range of activities undertaken by women in the Uprising was much wider: they were couriers, transported the insurrectional press to the hinterland, distributed important documents. They set up contact points and hid the insurgents at their own homes. They provided them with means of subsistence, keys to empty flats and empty passport forms.

By organizing themselves into aid committees, women ran hospitals and field medical units that took care of all casualties, regardless of the side on which they fought. They also collected medicines, made surgical dressings and even ammunition, putting their lives at risk in two ways: they were threatened with exposure and exile and could die by accident while making firearm cartridges.

Their tasks also included supplying the insurgents with clothes. They sewed, washed, repaired, delivered – which the authorities also punished with deportations. They also provided food to the "rebels" and ran kitchens for detainees imprisoned for taking part in the uprising, e.g. in Lvov and the Warsaw Citadel. To hand in food supplies to incoming transports of deportees, they also kept guard at railway stations and did not abandon the deportees even in exile. We should explain that many prisoners sentenced to deportation to Siberia were accompanied in exile by their mothers, wives and children and they were supported by aid organizations women founded there.





One of the interesting forms of expressing support for the national cause in the times of the uprising was manifestation through fashion. A call to wear black mourning dresses was made as early as in February 1861 after a violent suppression of a patriotic demonstration by the armed forces. Women gave up colorful dresses and ornate jewelry and replaced them with black from head to toe. They combed hair upwards and covered it with veil hats. Though they eliminated colors from their clothing, they did not give up useful crinolines which helped smuggle underground press and weapons; they could even hide someone for a while in case of need under those structured petticoats. Black attire was mandatory even on wedding days, fashion newspapers informed about that trend too; there was also special jewelry to go with mourning clothes, usually made of cheap materials such as black oxidized steel or iron. They wore silver wedding rings covered with black enamel, brooches with eagle in the crown (national emblem) and patriotic mottoes, similar belt buckles and crosses hung on chains. Chains, a very popular trend, were supposed to bring to mind the misery of the deportees. The motif of the crown of thorns – also trendy at that time – was a symbol of Poland suffering like Christ dying on the cross.

The Russian authorities did not miss fashion novelties and monitored their popularity very meticulously. Equipped with special hooks, agents tore ladies’ mourning crinolines in the streets and issued official decrees prohibiting wearing black in public places. Mourning could only be justified by a death of next of kin that had to be confirmed with a document issued by the police. In the absence of such a certificate, a woman could be penalized with a fine, and if she failed to pay it, she could be arrested, or her carriages or horses could be seized.

Did you know that spouses still wear wedding rings on their right hand in Poland? This custom emerged after the fall of the January Uprising.

Previously, it was customary to wear it on the left hand, and only after the death of your spouse, you should put on the right hand. After the defeat of the Uprising, married Polish women started wearing their rings on the right hand as a sign of national mourning.

Shelter for January Uprising veterans, among them Henryka Daniłowska.



Suffragists

The fall of the January Uprising left a deep mark on the lives of Polish women. Many men died, others were deported to Siberia, some emigrated fearing punishment. The women who stayed (and many of them also left the country for this or that reason) had to face the reality affected by Tsarist repressions. These included the abolishment of the autonomy of Congress Poland, martial law that lasted 50 years, increased forced Russianization, prohibiting the activities of educational and cultural societies, sequestering landowners' estates, and restricting any Public Offices to Russians.

The situation of the abandoned women was lamentable: the existing model of girls' education failed since it did not develop the skills that would afford them gainful employment, thus condemning them to dependence on men. And the men were missing. That is why the women's question became one of the most important topics on the Polish Positivism agenda. Its representatives emphasized the importance of education and women’s emancipation as the key to the reconstruction of the destroyed Polish society. Although the implementation of these ideas took place very slowly, due to, among other reasons, conservatism, inseparably linked with the Polish national identity, which was threatened by the occupant’s policies, Polish women gradually expanded their rights, which, as it is stressed, was also influenced by their participation in patriotic struggles.

Women Citizens

Thus, the relatively early introduction of women's political empowerment in Poland, as compared to other European countries at that time, is also mentioned as a result of those fights. The first to grant suffrage to women was the Provisional Government established on November 7, 1918 and chaired by Ignacy Daszyński. Ultimately, the full suffrage (the right to vote and the right to stand for election) was confirmed in the decree by the Provisional Chief of State, Józef Piłsudski of 28 November 1918. The new law stated that "every citizen of the Republic regardless of gender, is an elector to the Sejm [Polish parliament]" and that "every citizen, man or woman, can stand for election with active suffrage.” The first Polish women to sit on the parliamentary benches were: Gabriela Balicka, Jadwiga Dziubińska, Irena Kosmowska, Maria Moczydłowska, Zofia Moraczewska, Anna Piasecka, Zofia Sokolnicka and Franciszka Wilczkowiakowa – 8 superbly educated representatives of various political camps, who, regardless of differences, collaborated closely during the entire term. They knew perfectly well what they were doing - they were supported by experiences of an entire generation of Polish women activists.

[pjotr]

Bo,

Is this party the core of present day Polish feminism today?

Cheers,
Pieter



The Feminist Initiative (Polish: Inicjatywa Feministyczna, IF) is a Polish political party advocating for women's rights. It was registered on 11 January 2007 and was known as "Women's Party" (Partia Kobiet) until the 27th of August 2016. The founder of the Feminist Initiative is the Polish writer, screenwriter, feminist and politician Manuela Gretkowska (6 October 1964).


Manuela Gretkowska

The leading politicians of Inicjatywa Feministyczna are Elżbieta Jachlewska, Katarzyna Kądziela and Iwona Piątek.


Elżbieta Jachlewska


Katarzyna Kądziela


Iwona Piątek

This party works to strengthen and defend women's rights, abortion rights, LGBT rights, asylum rights and refugee rights.

In the 21 October 2007 National Assembly election, the party won 0.28% of the popular vote and no seats in the Sejm or the Senate of Poland. In 2016 Women's Party was renamed "Feminist Initiative".







inicjatywafeministyczna.pl/
www.facebook.com/fundacjaIJN/

Inicjatywa Feministyczna
Baśniowa 3 lok. 1
Warszawa 02-349

[e-mail]

[pjotr]

Feminist voices we get shown here in the West via media chanals:

[pjotr]

(Poland) Kobiety w Sieci



Kobiety w Sieci’s mission is to give all women information how to get abortion in Poland, legal and restricted. We give women virtual mental support while they are during the process of abortion. Our work is not only about abortion, we also support the choices of contraceptive methods, including contraception after abortion.



Key projects:
- Education in contraceptive methods for adults
- Information about abortion methods available for Polish women
- Support after the abortion
- Sexual and Reproductive rights - what is “allowed” in Poland and what not
- Traditional and social media outreach of Kobiety w Sieci
- International cooperation with other hotlines/groups

Expertise offered:
We can offer our experience in building an internet forum. We’ve managed ours since 2006 also from 2012 have worked on abortion hotline.

Dream project:
Sexual education for youth in Polish schools and more access to safe abortion in Poland.

Who we are

We are a group of feminist activists, trained counsellors, medical professionals, and researchers based across 4 continents who focus on supporting self-managed abortion, especially in places where abortion is restricted by laws, stigma and lack of access.
Our team is based in 17 countries across 4 continents. We work globally and locally.

Online Counseling team: The online team is composed of more than 26 counselors, many of whom are multilingual. All are extensively trained and experienced reproductive health workers. The counselors communicate with online service users of the telehealth service that is open 365 days a year.

Coordinative team: The Coordinative team is responsible for overseeing the Foundation’s work and external communication. The Coordinative team includes Regional Network Coordinators, the Online Services Coordinator, the Operations Coordinator, the Research Coordinator, the Security Coordinator, the Training Coordinator, the Development Consultant, and the Executive Director.

Project teams: Skilled teams work on multi-year programs in Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

Media team: The Media team is made up of Internet technology, communications, and social media specialists. The Media team is based international, is engaged in feminist activism and supports open-source practices.

Medical team: A team of physicians with extensive obstetrics, gynecology and abortion provision experience reviews incoming online consultations and questions.

Scientific Advisors: Scientific Advisors are independent experts who offer recommendations on best research practices and engage in collaborative research projects with Women Help Women.

Partners: Partnering organizations, groups, collectives, research institutes and individuals form the Women Help Women network. Partnerships are core to our work. We work closely with partners on a variety of programs.

Board of Directors: The Board of Directors is based internationally and meets regularly. All Board Directors are experienced professionals in governance and are established in the fields of women’s rights.

Website:
www.maszwybor.net

Social media:
www.maszwybor.net/blog



www.facebook.com/kobiety.wsieci

Interested in donating to Kobiety w Sieci?
Email: [e-mail]

www.infosocialmedia.pl/kobiety-w-sieci-badanie/

[pjotr]

[pjotr]

Bo and Jeanne and other Forum members.

I hope that you react on my postings because I tried hard to find the Polish feminist voices and thus posted Polish Feminist propaganda and pro-Abortion posts. I am fairly in the middle and rather moderate. Not on the hard core rightwing National conservative side nor on the radical left side. Abortion is a difficult one for me. I do believe in female reproductive rights and that in cases of rape, young teenage pregnancies (12, 13, 14, 15 years old pregnant girls), incest and in cases that the mothers life is threatened abortion must be possible.

I have many leftwing, center left, centrist and even moderate center right liberal conservative friends, colleagues, acquaintances who are Pro-choice and thus think abortion must be possible. That is due to the secular humanist nature of my country where a large part of the population is secular, atheist, agnostic or secular Roman-Catholic, secular protestant, secular Jewish or secular Muslim or secular Hindu, or Buddhist. Of Course conservative Religious Roman-Catholics, Calvinist Christians, Lutherans, and some other groups oppose abortion, Euthenasia, and the legal Gay marriage in the Netherlands. But a large part of the population supports abortion, Euthenasia and the legal Gay marriage in the Netherlands.

Cheers,
Pieter

[Bonobo]

Feb 24, 2019 19:50:25 GMT 1 pjotr said:

Bo,

Is this party the core of present day Polish feminism today?

Actually, I am not sure. Those Polish feminists are not so conspicuous as one might think. They are mostly busy with their jobs and lives and taking care of family, I think they get more active whenever the government tries to introduce some controvercial laws.
I recognise Manuela Gretkowska, a writer.

[pjotr]

Bo,

I remember Manuela Gretkowska from nearly a decade ago when she started Partia Kobiet with other Polish women and when they as a campaign stunt or marketing tool made a decent nude photo to raise attention to their call, message, goal and party.



Cheers,
Pieter

[pjotr]

Feb 24, 2019 21:57:06 GMT 1 Bonobo said:

Feb 24, 2019 19:50:25 GMT 1 pjotr said:

Bo,

Is this party the core of present day Polish feminism today?

Actually, I am not sure. Those Polish feminists are not so conspicuous as one might think. They are mostly busy with their jobs and lives and taking care of family, I think they get more active whenever the government tries to introduce some controvercial laws.
I recognise Manuela Gretkowska, a writer.

Bo,

Feminists are feminists and Dutch Feminists look like your Polish feminists. They are mainly pragmatic and realistic and try to reach for realistic goals. They are different than the radical suffragettes, members of militant women's organisations in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections, known as women's suffrage.

They are also less radical and militant than the feminists and radicals of the sixties and seventies who burnt their Bras, whistled at men , had banners with slogans 'boss in my own belly' , and did performances, spontanious actions and happenings.

Feminism was a mass movement back then in 1970

The Dutch feminists invader the traditional male bastion, the Nyenrode Business Universiteit, formerly spelled as Nijenrode, a Dutch business school and one of four private universities in the Netherlands, because it was an institution which only had boys and young adolescent men as students. During the invasion of the school scuffles broke out between the Dolle Mina Feminists and the male employee's, professors and probably students. After that the feminists had a public bra burning ceremony. Not wearing a bra was a feminist way of protesting in that time. The Feminists also blocked Traditional krul urinals in Amsterdam for men, because women had no public toilets. Later in the video you see a National congress of the Dolle Mina's in Arnhem which is filmed by a blond German female camerawoman. Both the leader of the Polish Feminist and writer Manuela Gretkowska and the blond Dutch spokes woman of the Dolle Mina's are very attractive women. The latter is the remark of a man, Pieter, who is not a feminist, but from a general Democratic point of view stands behind the freedom of expression, free speech, and the democratic rights of Feminists.


A traditional krul urinal in Amsterdam for men

In this Dutch comedy version of the original action this urinal protest comes back

The Dutch men who have to pee very much agree with the injustice that women don't have a public toilet outside and are allowed into the urinal.

The radical feminist Dolle Mina's imitated sexist male behavior and harassed men


Another Feminist group was the Man Woman Society (Man Vrouw Maatschappij)



Man Vrouw Maatschappij



Man Vrouw Maatschappij (MVM, "Man Woman Society") was a Dutch feminist action group, founded by Joke Smit en Hedy d'Ancona.



The group was founded by Joke Smit in October 1968; she had published the feminist article "Het onbehagen bij de vrouw" ("The Discontent of Women") in November 1967. After Dolle Mina, another feminist group, was founded it sailed a more radical course and participated in feminist actions, most notably 1970's Op de vrouw af! (On women!).


Dutch feminist demonstration for equal pay during the seventies

MVM was anti-hierarchical and opposed to patriarchy; it was run without a president and after 1973 disallowed men, causing d'Ancona and others to leave the group.


The same wage for you and me, a MVM poster for equal pay for men and women in the seventies

Dolle Mina



Dolle Mina (Mad Mina) was a 1970s Dutch feminist group which campaigned for equal rights for women. It was named after early Dutch feminist Wilhelmina Drucker.


Wilhelmina Drucker (née Wilhelmina Elizabeth Lensing; Amsterdam, 30 September 1847 – Amsterdam, 5 December 1925) was a Dutch politician and writer. One of the first Dutch feminists, she was also known under her pseudonyms Gipsy, Gitano, and E. Prezcier. ( pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmina_Drucker )


Boss in your own abdomen (belly/stomach) action of the Dolle Mina movement

Formation

In the first wave of feminism, about 1880-1925, feminists strove to vote and stand for women's rights and their access to college and university. This action movement largely fell silent after the main goals were reached and the economic crisis in 1930. In the war years 1939 to 1945 changed thinking about the role of women and they were strong in countries such as England, Germany or the United States deployed in factories to replace men who served in the military. In the postwar years, the bell was again partially reversed. Women who worked in factories were sent home, they were put out of unions and other civil society organizations and the new morality was that women were generally not supposed to work outside the home, but were happy to provide unpaid home by their spouse, children to educate and organize the household. In the Netherlands, working women were fired when they got married, for officials was regulated. In the Netherlands, married women could not independently perform legal acts such as the conclusion of a contract (incapacitation). In the sixties, mainly originated in Western countries among women worldwide again feminist movement, from dissatisfaction with the social position and partly because of the contraceptive pill that made possible the sending of pregnancies. This action period, the second wave of feminism and called in the Netherlands was activist group Dolle Mina as an important and well-known part of.


Dolle Mina on Queens day in Amsterdam during the seventies

In autumn 1969, the founders were Dunya Verwey, Michael Korzec, Alex and Rita Korzec Hendriks. Shortly thereafter locks include Anne Marie and her husband Philippens Huub themselves. Dolle Mina of the first hour included Nora Rozenbroek, Friedl Baruch, Claudette van Trikt, Selma Leydesdorff, Marjan Sax, Miklos Racz and Loes Mallée, and Henriëtte Schatz. During the Maagdenhuis occupation earlier that year the Dunya Verwey had noticed that especially the men activists where speaking. Selma Leydesdorff saw that only the women made sandwiches. Around the same time were Nora Rozenbroek, Rita Hendriks and her husband Alex Korzec faced in their daily work and life the practical consequences of inequality between men and women. Dolle Mina was able to draw attention to the unequal rights of men and women with playful public campaigns. Since October 1968 the group consisted Man Woman Society, one of the Social Democratic the Labour Party sympathetic action group in the parliament and the public administration would exert influence to improve the rights of women and their position in society. The founders of Dolle Mina saw MVM (Man Woman Society) as a conformist club too much part of the established order and opted for other purposes and methods. Some Dolle Mina members found MVM also reformist: they saw themselves as members of a new "grassroots" who sought a more fundamental change in society. There should be, according to them, a democratic socialist society. Various groups at the bottom of society ("the base") had to be mobilized in it. This basic strategy groups the line at that time was also the student movement (among others Ton Regtien was turned off).



Dolle Mina had a Marxist outlook, and brought attention to the struggle by women to gain equality in the trade unions, which routinely avoided expanding the rights of women members when it meant concessions by male "breadwinners". The group had activist campaigns, including protests and publications, to promote women's right to abortion, equal pay for equal work, childcare, and even access to public toilets.

Dolle Mina's protests lasted throughout the 1970s. They were characterized by their humour, often inverting gender roles. In 1970, the group co-organized a "Discrimination Fair" to draw attention to the issue of equal pay. Central to the debate was the Netherlands' failure to ratify the International Labour Organization Convention ILO-100, which mandated equal pay for equal work. The Netherlands ratified ILO-100 in 1971, although it did not have an immediate impact.


Dolle Mina demonstration for free anti-conception pills during the seventies


Large Dolle Mina, Feminist, demonstration during the seventies. My mother said that Dutch women were less emancipated in the sixties and early seventies than for instance in Poland where more women worked and the position of women was better, even in the Communist Peoples Republic. Women had a higher status in Poland in her point of view. Maybe she meant that Poland was a more female friendly country in her own perspective as a Polish woman who migrated to the Netherlands in 1967, and in the early seventies still was a migrant women with a strong foreign slavic accent.

An arrested Dolle Mina feminist in a Dutch riot police van

Media coverage of Dolle Mina

One of the most remarkable aspects of the movement is the media coverage. The attention was crucial to the professionality of the Dolle Mina movement. It showed that well-organised and well-documented protest did not only contribute to the demonstration itself, it could also spark a reaction from surrounding countries, especially Belgian and German women's emancipation movements. Another group that was known for their use of media was the Man-Vrouw-Maatschappij (MVM), which translates as the Man-Women-Society. This group was more professional in the way that it had actual functions on their board (chairman, treasurer and secretary), but compared to the Dolle Mina's, it lacked controversiality. The MVM mainly pursued their goals through the political path by for example, lobbying in national and local parliaments, writing reports and organizing conferences. They did several news segments and printed out their statements for everyone to read. However, as said before, the movement of the Dolle Mina provoked a true 'mediablitz' with the use of provocative events or other unconventional ways to get their statements across. For example tying pink ribbons across (mostly public) male lavatories or, a more direct approach: the kidnapping of a movie-maker who wanted to organise a 'Miss Cinema Pageant'. Even though these acts seem to have had a long-term preparation, most of the acts were carried out days apart from each other, which resulted in weeks long press-headliners about the Dolle Mina movement. The movement was especially exceptional in providing the media with 'readymade' news, such as the pink ribbon-demonstration. Their exceptional use of media with the use of shock and/or materials in an unconventional way was a significant part of the success of the movement.


The Dolle Mina's demonstrated agains the exposition and exploitation of 'female meat' during Miss contests, like in this image where Dolle Mina's stormed the stage of a Miss Belgium contest

[pjotr]

Bo,

Maybe Razem is the most serious, pragmatic and reasonable Feminist political party, because it combines Social democracy, Democratic socialism and the party is progressive on social issues, supporting drug liberalisation, sex education in schools and LGBT rights. The party's economic program is partially inspired by the Nordic model. The party advocates labor rights and opposes deregulation and privatisation of public services. and it considers itself part of the anti-austerity movement.



In 2016 Razem instigated mass protests (called the Black Protest) against a bill that would impose a complete ban on abortion, proposed by a citizens' initiative. In 2016, Foreign Policy magazine included Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk of the Razem National Board, together with Barbara Nowacka of Polish Initiative (Inicjatywa Polska), in its annual list of the 100 most influential global thinkers for their role in organising the protest.

Source: Wikipedia ( pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partia_Razem / en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razem / de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partia_Razem /








Razem International posted this message on 11 November 2018·

Today Poland is celebrating the centenary of its independence. Dear Friends from all over the world! No matter what you might see and hear today from the media or on the streets, remember: For us, all people are brothers and sisters, equal in their rights and dignity. There is a place for everyone in this land. This country is for everyone!

[Image description: A square in Polish national colours (white and red) with the sentence "This is a country for everyone" in following languages: English, Polish, Silesian, Kashubian, Yiddish, Hebrew, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Belarusian, German, Slovak, Russian, Czech, Arabic and Vietnamese, followed with the caption "100th anniversary of Polish independence" in English.]

[pjotr]

Barbara Nowacka



Barbara Anna Nowacka (born 10 May 1975) is a Polish politician. A left activist in Labour United, and later in Your Movement, in October 2015 she became leader of the United Left coalition for the Polish parliamentary election, 2015, bringing together Labour United, Your Movement, the Democratic Left Alliance, the Greens, and the Polish Socialist Party.

Political career



Born in Warsaw, Nowacka was educated at the University of Warsaw, where she was active as a feminist in the Federation for Women and Family Planning. From 1997 to 2006, she was a member of the youth wing of Labour United and then of the party itself.

In 2014 she stood unsuccessfully in the European elections in Lublin for Europa Plus, supported by Aleksander Kwaśniewski. She went on from that defeat to join Janusz Palikot's Your Movement, becoming a joint leader, and helped to create the United Left, a broad coalition. On 4 October 2015 she was named as its candidate for prime minister if it won the election, and on 17 October she presented the coalition's programme at a conference in Katowice. However, in the elections on 25 October the United Left failed to reach the 8 per cent threshold for obtaining parliamentary representation under Poland's system of election, while Nowacka herself failed to be elected in the Warsaw I parliamentary constituency.


Barbara Nowacka with Polish politician, parliament member and feminist Joanna Izabela Scheuring-Wielgus

The Polish elections of 2015 were unusual in that most of the major parties contesting them were led by women. While Nowacka was the leader of the United Left (Zjednoczona Lewica), Ewa Kopacz of the governing Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska) party was the incumbent prime minister, and Beata Szydło of the opposition Law and Justice party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość) was the main challenger. In the event, Szydło was elected with an overall majority.

In 2016, Foreign Policy magazine included Nowacka, together with Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk of Razem, on its annual list of the 100 most influential global thinkers for their role in organizing protests against a total ban on abortion in Poland.


Barbara Nowacka probably in the Polish parliament

[pjotr]

Bo,

t is good that so many Polish women are active in politics and that many of them are member of the parliament and even the Polish government as ministers. The worrisome fact is that Poland has not a political balance and that the right is to dominant today. But that is just my opinion as a West-European journalist who isn't member of any political party, due to his profession. I love being unaffiliated, neutral, objective and can observe politics without having a political color.

In the Polish sense that is different due to some worrisome aspects of Polish politics today. I think that a healthy democracy needs some balance between left and right, and in the ideal sense a left, a center and a right in politics. For instance PSL, Nowoczesna and Teraz! are rather centrist political parties, while Platforma Obywatelska is center right, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, Solidarna Polska and Wolność are rightwing (with some socialistic elements in the PiS case), Porozumienie is center right, and Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej, Unia Pracy and Razem are leftwing.

You would say that the Polska Partia Socjalistyczna played an important role in the foundation of democratic Poland and formed the Polish Social Democracy in the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century. Today the Polish Social Democracy is not so strong, because former Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza (PZPR; Polish United Workers' Party) people, reform communists, played a significant role in Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej, which kept some people with leftwing leanings away from the SLD and United Left (Zjednoczona Lewica). But that might change if time moves on and former communists become old and new generations take over the leftwing movement and thus a 21th century left will emerge, with politicians and activist that were born in 1989 or after 1989.

The right will become weaker the longer they will be in power and the left will have a lot of time to regroup, reform, mordernise itself and become younger with allowing new generations in, who have nothing in common with the Polish People Republic era party activists and politicians.

Cheers,
Pieter

[pjotr]

Some interesting links:
politicalcritique.org/cee/poland/2018/new-polish-feminists-sawka/
www.academia.edu/20837911/The_feminist_movement_in_poland
www.academia.edu/4926731/Polish_Feminist_Movement_and_One_of_Its_Activists
Polish Feminist Movement and One of Its Activists



The limitation of feminism as a broader movement in Poland is related to the fact that most of activists remain closed within big cities and academic centres.

It is easier to be feminist and attend meetings and discussions in the cities. But the problems likedomestic violence, unemployment are very much actual also in small towns and villages.

There are distinct difficulties within Polish feminism. An activist who lives and works in Kraków sees distinctions between organizations located in capital city – Warsaw - and the rest of the country.
Like in everyother field, Warsaw-situated organizations have better access to media and politics. She believes that also general interest in feminist issues is wider in Warsaw than in other Polish cities. But this is also Warsaw’s organization responsibility to “be there”, to be involved directly in all the processes that take place in the capital city, to be constantly updated and to update others.


Izabela Walentyna Jaruga-Nowacka [izaˈbɛla jaˈruɡa nɔˈvat͡ska] (23 August 1950 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish political figure who had served in the national Parliament (Sejm) since 1993 (with a four-year hiatus in 1997–2001) and, in May 2004, rose to become Deputy Prime Minister under Prime Minister Marek Belka, serving until October 2005, while also, concurrently, filling in his cabinet, from November 2004 to October 2005, the position of Minister Polityki Społecznej [Minister for Social Policy].
A native of the Baltic seaport city of Gdańsk, the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka earned a degree in ethnography from the University of Warsaw and, during the 1970s and 80s was employed at the Institute for Science Policy and Higher Education (1974–76) and the Institute of Socialist Nations at the Polish Academy of Sciences (1976–86). Although not politically active during the Communist period, near its end, in the mid-1980s, she joined the League of Polish Women then, in 1991, became active in Ruch Demokratyczno-Społeczny [Democratic-Popular Movement] and, in the election of 1993, was elected to the Sejm as a member of the Labor Union party.
A dedicated feminist, she remained a member of Sejm 1993–97, Sejm 2001–05, Sejm 2005–07 and was elected for the fourth time in October 2007, running on the platform of the new Left and Democrats party.

Thus, it may be so that ‘Warsaw' sets agenda and shows directions. The Krakow feminist activist states there isno common strategy for the movement. There are many visions within the main organizations in the country that differ from each other which often results in conflicts and that undermines the movement coherence.

This diversity may be both enriching for the movement and be its’ curse. In such situations the garnering of broader social support is much more difficult.

Another problem for the Polish Feminist movement is the weakness and polarization in the Polish left. In Poland like in some other European countries the conservative right, national populism and the center right are strong and the center left and left are very weak or weakened.

Feminism is often supported by left leaning progressive center left social liberals, liberal democrats ( Nowoczesna ), social democrats ( Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej ), socialists ( Unia Pracy and www.naszpps.ppspl.eu/ and partiarazem.pl/ ) and green party people ( Partia Zieloni , pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partia_Zieloni , partiazieloni.pl/en/ ).

The fact that Feminism is supported by the left and center left is not a typical Polish phenomenon, but the same in Western-Europe, the USA and Canada. Ofcourse there are also cases of center right, secular liberal conservative feminism and feminists, libertarian feminists and simply right leaning feminists, but these form the minority.

A Dutch example of the latter was Annelien Kappeyne van de Coppello of the center right, Conservative liberal VVD (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy) party. ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annelien_Kappeyne_van_de_Coppello )

But in general support for Feminism comes from the leftwing political parties Socialist Party (SP), GroenLinks (GreenLeft, the Dutch Greens), the Dutch (Social democratic) Labour party (PvdA) and the center left to centrist Democrats 1966 (D66).

In Poland today due to the polarization, the fact that Poland is a rather traditional, conservative and old Fashionate Roman-Catholic society and thus a patriarchal society, the Feminist counter forces will be stronger than in the more liberal, progressive and secular Netherlands in particular and Western-Europe in general.

Opposition to Feminism comes from both men and women. Some women in the Netherlands and Western-Europe (France and Germany) are concerned about what they call 'the damage' feminists cause to male-female hetrosexual relationships, in the sense that 'in their view' men can't be men anymore when feminism becomes to strong and dominant. These women also say that Feminists threaten the feminine nature of women, by making them more or too masculine. Sometimes I (Pieter) view more female opposition against feminism than male opposition against feminism in Western-Europe.

I also view that there is little solidarity between women and a lot of competition, stuggle, revulsion (disliking) between women. On several occasions in the Netherlands I heard women say to me: "I prefer working with men in staid working with women. Women are vicious, cunning, shrewd, scurvy and are engaged in psychological warfare with each other." This is not something I invent over here Bonobo and Jeanne. This is what I heard from female colleagues in various jobs I had, from Female friends and what I read in Dutch newspapers and magazines.

Even some disappointed old Dutch feminists spoke about it to me. Our so called feminist sisters often stabbed me in the back.

Still, Bo and Jeanne, I know very good, fine and honorable Dutch feminists like Annelien Kappeyne van de Coppello, which was a very fine State Secretary of the First Lubbers cabinet. Other great Dutch feminists, were and are politician, European Commissioner for Competition and businesswoman Neelie Smit-Kroes; Labour politician Hedy d'Ancona, and Queen Máxima Zorreguieta.


Annelien Kappeyne van de Coppello


Neelie Smit-Kroes

Maybe Bonobo and other Poles from Poland could tell more about Feminism in Poland?

Cheers,
Pieter

[Bonobo]

Mar 11, 2019 12:38:16 GMT 1 pjotr said:

The fact that Feminism is supported by the left and center left is not a typical Polish phenomenon, but the same in Western-Europe, the USA and Canada. Ofcourse there are also cases of center right, secular liberal conservative feminism and feminists, libertarian feminists and simply right leaning feminists, but these form the minority.
Cheers,
Pieter

Yes, e.g., I am centre leaning to the right and I support all women who are lost and don`t know how to deal with violence and abuse in their marriages or workplaces.

Mar 11, 2019 12:38:16 GMT 1 pjotr said:

Opposition to Feminism comes from both men and women. Some women in the Netherlands and Western-Europe (France and Germany) are concerned about what they call 'the damage' feminists cause to male-female hetrosexual relationships, in the sense that 'in their view' men can't be men anymore when feminism becomes to strong and dominant. These women also say that Feminists threaten the feminine nature of women, by making them more or too masculine. Sometimes I (Pieter) view more female opposition against feminism than male opposition against feminism in Western-Europe.

I also view that there is little solidarity between women and a lot of competition, stuggle, revulsion (disliking) between women. On several occasions in the Netherlands I heard women say to me: "I prefer working with men in staid working with women. Women are vicious, cunning, shrewd, scurvy and are engaged in psychological warfare with each other." This is not something I invent over here Bonobo and Jeanne. This is what I heard from female colleagues in various jobs I had, from Female friends and what I read in Dutch newspapers and magazines.

Yes, some traditional women want to keep old values and traditions, that is why they are against feminism. They think that cases of abuse and violence against females can be dealt with by courts like they are now and that it is enough.

As for female rivalry in workplaces - it depends. If there happen to be a few toxic females in a company, they are indeed able to spoil the atmosphere for each other and others too. But the same applies to male environment - they also like to show their superiority and it may happen in a nasty way.

Or do you suggest such toxic relations between females are a product of feminism? And they were no existent in the past when women liberation movement wasn`t so popular?

[pjotr]

Bo,

I don't think that toxic relations between females are a product of feminism. I have experienced rivalry within families between women. For instance a power struggle between a dominant grandmother, an equally dominant mother and an obnoxious daughter, and for instance female cousinswho take one side in the battle.

In the example above here I don't talk about my own family by a family of a female colleague of mine in a previous job I had. But more often I have witnessed mother-daugther rivalry and discord within families. I regulary thought thank God I am a man, because these mother-daughter relationships (of girlfriends and colleagues of mine) were quite exhausting, deep, multi-layered, long lasting and psychological complicated and quite heavy.

But to be honest I also saw wonderful family relations between grandmothers, mothers and daughters and granddaughters. I also saw good relationships between girlfriends in my social circle of friends. And I liked working with female colleagues at the communication (Public relations and Patient information) department of the local hospital ( www.rijnstate.nl/ ) and at my present job at the local radio/tv station Radio Television Arnhem ( www.rtv-arnhem.nl/ ). I actually re-engaged with old friends from the Art world from the nineties in The Hague and Amsterdam. There was and is also rivalry between female artists, but a Dutch expression says "Time heals the wounds."

I think the female nature, female hormones, female brains, the fact that females get a special connection with children and family members via their role as mothers, aunts, grandmothers, sisters and cousins, makes them in some cases more social then men. But in the world the differences between male and female are often exaggerated, because you also have androgyine men and masculine women and forms of human beings between men and women, hermaphrodites, transgenders and people who do not see themselves as male of female (in various forms, shapes and identities).

Women and girls in my observation, experience, knowledge and information are social on an earlier age than boys who are more pre-occupied with their individualistic obsessions, interests and hobbies. Girks form groups, clubs and are often connected to their mom, grandmother, sisters, female cousins, aunts, neighbourgirls, the female adult neighbour next door. Again, I do believe that men and boys are more individualistic.

The female role in the old fashionate conservative upbringing was being tought to take care of the family, train their social skills, take care of their own look, participate in a girls group or women circle and be feminine, social, caring and nice in general. Modern feminists refuse to obbey this pattern and also embrace traditional male roles as independence, authonomy, individualism, and demand equality.

Mind you that these stories I heard about women came from Dutch women and Dutch girls, and thus descibes a Dutch social context of a society in which women and girls compete with other women and girls. In the field of love (often girls/women like the same man/boy), the labour market (more women who want the same job -only one woman can get that one job-), and in competition on the workfloor. Who is who in the social hierarchy at the work floor. Who is superiour amongst equals? You have the most dominant woman, the second most dominant woman, the third most dominant woman, the forth woman, the fifth woman, the sixth woman and the seventh woman in a department with for instance 7 women and 5 men. These 3 women will always compete with each other every day for the attention and collaboration wit the 5 men and the collaboration wit the 4 other women.

Some traditional women want to keep old values and traditions, that is why they are against femminism. In the Netherlands these can be Calvinist Dutch Reformed women who come from an Old testamonial, Patriarchal, biblical, Calvinist rural (farmer), fishermen, sailor (commercial navy) or small town Middle class background or from traditional Roman-Catholic families. Other come from Conservative liberal, secular conservative or Christian democratic backgrounds or traditonal Muslim, Hindu or migrant christian communities.

I come from a pluriform, multi-cultural, hetrogenous society. I heard that some women are disappointed with the emancipation programs of the Dutch coalition governments of the past coalition governments and the Three Feminist waves of the 20th century. The lack of solidarity and the fierce amount of rivalry and viciousness between women disappointed them. I talk about the Dutch situation in this text Bo and Jeanne.

Mind you that the situation for women and girls is different in the Netherlands, Poland and the USA.

Cheers,
Pieter

[Bonobo]

History of feminism is extensively presented in this article.

www.onet.pl/styl-zycia/siedemosmychpl/przez-lata-polki-wywalczyly-sobie-wiele-praw-czy-potrafia-i-chca-z-nich-korzystac/3ncqbwq,30bc1058



Over the years, Polish women have won many rights. Can they and do they want to use them?
Contrary to popular opinion, Polish voting rights were not granted on November 11, the day Poland regained independence. Only the decree of the Chief of State, Józef Piłsudski, on the electoral law of November 28, 1918, gave them the right to vote. On this occasion, it is worth remembering what the forging of further rights by our countrymen looked like.

Monika Ksieniewicz-Mil

The elections to the Sejm in 1930, source: Narodowe Archiwum CyfroweThe elections to the Sejm in 1930, source: Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe - Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe / sevenosmych.pl

The history of women's emancipation in Poland goes from gaining access to education, through gaining full electoral rights, to mass participation in the labor market after World War II and to fertility control (although, as the last judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal has shown, it is not obvious). Education ensured a well-paid job, i.e. independence, and the possibility of voting and standing in elections - a real influence on law and politics, i.e. co-creation of the state.

Where the devil can't ...
For centuries, the situation of women in Poland was better than that of women in the rest of Europe. Men spent most of their time in wars or regional councils, so women ruled the houses and farms. But the state - it was already a purely male affair. Besides, there was something that the Polish philosopher, feminist and social activist Sławomira Walczewska in "Ladies, knights and feminists" called a noble gender contract. Among the wealthy nobility, marriage was a contract. It served property and family interests. Girls got married at the age of 16–18, previously subjected to good body training, that is, all educational practices generating submission to men.

It was only during the Uprising that an unprecedented thing happened. The leader of the uprising, Tadeusz Kościuszko, addressed an appeal to the women, in which he addressed them as fellow citizens. He asked for a lint and bandages, spoke about the public need and the necessity of sacrifice for the country.

- The announcement of women as fellow citizens in the era of partitions meant the will to share with them the costs of the restitution of the Polish state. Until the fall, its only citizens were men of the nobility. Women obtained citizenship only after the Polish state ceased to exist. So they were granted the citizenship of a non-existent country. They received it when, technically speaking, it was a paradox, and in fact - when it was a heavy burden - Walczewska writes in the aforementioned book.

The women, of course, responded to Kosciuszko's call. In addition to embroidering banners and tearing, they tugged, agitated, were couriers, smuggled weapons and money, organized field hospitals, many of them fought. After the fight was over, they sent parcels to Siberia.


When Poland disappeared from the map of Europe, it moved home and the family became the guarantor of national identity. Motherhood and raising children was no longer a private matter, but a political one. Polish mothers followed the "private is political" postulate long before it was invented by Western feminists. At home, they cultivated Polishness, cultivated tradition, religion and customs. After the deportation or the death of their husband, they were independent, they had to be steadfast and rise to the occasion.

Although the reward for this was prestige in the family and society, elevation to a social pedestal narrowed the range of available behaviors. The Polish mother was supposed to be good, faithful, full of fortitude and devotion, heroin who was not allowed to have her own passions or dreams, not to mention passions. Besides, the moral power of women did not translate in any way into formal power.

When Western emancipated women fought for the freedom and equality of women, Polish women fought "for the cause". Even Polish emancipated women, after regaining independence, did not plead for liberation from male domination, but for "equality in the possibility of sacrifice", for civic obligations and for participation in the reconstruction of the state "without distinction between sexes".

The grace of the Lord rides on a motley horse
Polish women obtained voting rights relatively easily, although - as the anecdote (apparently true) quoted in "Ladies, knights, feminists" by Walczewska says - a delegation of female activists who reported to Piłsudski on this matter was held in front of his villa for a few hours in the frost in Mokotów. The organizers of the Warsaw Congress of Women went to Piłsudski with a delegation from the Central Committee for the Political Equality of Polish Women as soon as he was dismissed by the Germans from Magdeburg. Dr. Justyna Budzińska-Tylicka, Dr. Zofia Sadowska and Maria Eysmontowa presented the Governor with a declaration calling for the granting of political equality to Polish women - which he did.

Electoral rights, i.e. the main postulate of the 19th-century women's movement in the West, were not the most important slogan of Polish emancipated women, because, as we know, the Polish state did not exist at that time. In Poland, women received active and passive voting rights in 1918, but it was only the Act of 1921 that fully repealed the limitations of a married woman to exercise legal acts and procedural capacity, and from 1929 the principle of equal rights for both spouses in their personal relations begins to apply. Besides, right after regaining independence, the participation of Polish women in public life was negligible - only 2 percent. women in the Sejm and 5 percent. in the Senate. We had to wait for the abolition of the rest of the laws discriminating against women until the end of World War II.

As Walczewska writes:

- Women in Poland did not have to demand the title of citizens, like women from Western Europe and the United States. It came to them from outside as a challenge, duty, moral imperative. It appeared with the fall of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the partitions. When the Polish state began to have a chance for a revival in the early twentieth century, women's citizenship began to be problematic again until independence was regained. (...) The collapse of Polish statehood brought women an invitation to join the Polish national community. Previously, there was no place for women in a noble nation. (...) It was only the fall of the Polish state that changed it, which was accompanied by the "invention" of women's citizenship.

In Great Britain, women already in 1866 organized themselves around the demands to grant them voting rights. In 1903, Emmeline Pankhrust founded a suffragette organization in England - the Social and Political Union of Women. At the same time, Minna Cauer, the founder of the Women's Success Association (1888), and her friends not only fought for electoral rights, but also for the abolition of the subordination and incapacitation of the wife and mother.

At that time, Polish women fought for the national cause, forced to postpone their rights. The independence regained by the country in 1918 offered Polish women the right to vote on an equal footing with men. English women received the right to vote in the same year as Polish women, but nobody gave them these rights - they won them themselves. This is a fundamental difference because in the course of this struggle the consciousness of British women was shaped. They had a chance to understand what is important to them and what they want.

By the decree of the Chief of State, Józef Piłsudski, on the electoral law of November 28, 1918, Polish women obtained the right to vote.

The decree read:

The right to choose.

Art 1. Every citizen of the state without gender differences who has reached the age of 21 by the day of the announcement of elections is an voter to the Seym.

Eligibility.

Art. 7 All citizens of the state who have the right to vote shall be elected to the Seym .

The elections to the Legislative Sejm took place on January 26, 1919, but in the turbulent period of the Polish Republic's formation, supplementary elections were held until March 1922. Ultimately, eight Polish women from various political circles got to the parliament: Gabriela Balicka, Jadwiga Dziubińska, Irena Kosmowska, Maria Moczydłowska, Zofia Moraczewska, Anna Anastazja Piasecka, Zofia Sokolnicka and Franciszka Wilczkowiakowa.

In the first Sejm after regaining independence, the first eight deputies were called "MPs", today unhealthy excitement in some people is caused by the word "MP", although it was the commune that destroyed the female endings, commonly used in the interwar period.

Today, abroad, we pride ourselves on the fact that, compared to the rest of the world, Polish women obtained electoral rights relatively quickly, we teach children in schools that Piłsudski gave them to them. But is that really true?

- Yes, we like to boast about the fact that Polish women were granted electoral rights early compared to other European countries (we especially like to point out the delay of France or England), but I am not convinced that it would have happened so quickly, if not for the specific situation of the "new beginning" "because such was undoubtedly regaining independence and the necessity / possibility of (re-) building the state, re-establishing the rules of its functioning - believes Olga Wiechnik, author of the book" Members of Parliament. Eight First Women ", journalist and editor.

- Under this new order, there would probably be no room for rights for more than half of its citizens if women had not fought for them. Because, of course, it is not that Piłsudski gave these rights to women. The first newly emerging power structures did not envisage women's suffrage, not even left-wing structures (such as the Central National Committee). It was the exaggerated and cross-class mobilization of women with very different views that had their voice taken into account - a year before Poland regained independence, a large congress of women claiming their rights took place in Warsaw. It would not have been possible if the women's movement had not operated in Poland for decades. It was as a result of this convention that a delegation of women was selected, who then went to Piłsudski to sign the decree, granting them political rights. Of course, Piłsudski also had an interest in this - the future of some areas was to be determined by plebiscites, and the votes of Polish women were votes for Poland. But it also shows that when it is "profitable" for men to do so, they recognize the rights of women, but when they do not see it as their own interest, not necessarily.

Rights granted… unused
Only since the so-called of the quota law, there are more women in the Polish parliament, but still less than 30 percent of them. Why? Why is equal participation of women in political decision-making so important? Olga Wiechnik explains it on the example of several years of struggle by the first Polish MPs to change the civil law.

- Although there was already a provision in the constitution on the equality of all citizens regardless of gender, Polish women were still discriminated against - he says. - It should be remembered that the political rights they had already won in 1918 did not have a major impact on their everyday lives, due to the provisions contained in the criminal and civil code. These codes proclaimed that a woman was incapable of making independent decisions, that she could not have her own property, that her earnings belonged to her husband, that the father was fully entitled to parental rights, that the wife owed her husband complete obedience, and so on. Members of Parliaments fought all these provisions and here they encountered constant obstacles, for the eternal "not now", "there are more urgent matters", "it's too complicated". If there were no women in the Seym, men would not take care of this because they were not willing to shed power over women. Or they simply did not see the problem - as happened many times in the period I examined. Even in the case of a seemingly banal and easy-to-change provision, according to which a Polish woman marrying a foreigner would automatically take his citizenship, and therefore she could not take up work in many professions. The problem was that in the post-partition society many Poles had foreign citizenships. And, of course, the rule for men didn't work - the man was losing nothing. The deputies did not see this as a problem - because it did not concern them. It was women in the Seym who took up the fight to change this and many other laws that hurt women. Without women in power structures, we cannot count on that someone will not only try to solve the problems of women, but at least even notice. Of course, whether this representation will be effective is another question.

Sławomira Walczewska believes that today more should be said about the role of women in politics, about women in parliament. We have electoral rights, theoretically, no one protects us to politics, but we must be willing to take advantage of it and play to one goal.

- Politics is a team game, individually, even such an outstanding feminist as Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka could not do much. We need coalitions of female MPs, also cross-party, even temporary, to deal with feminist matters, she says. - We need teams of feminist advisers and associates who will stand behind every feminist MP. We must stop being naively happy that someone "our" got to the parliament. A single, fluttering flag is not enough. We need teams that will actually take care of our feminist affairs in constant cooperation and contact with feminist activists and experts.

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It is interesting, however, that some women do not want to play for this common goal. Some of them even naively think that without these rights they would have lived.

- Of course, being a woman does not mean that you act for equality in a simple way. Women are often the best guardians of the patriarchy, because they grew up in it and internalized many of its mechanisms - explains Wiechnik.

- The history has been written by men so far. Most often they simply did not take into account the existence of women in it. When you grow up in a world (seemingly) created exclusively by men, one becomes convinced (most often unconscious, but deeply rooted) that this is the "natural" order of things. That as a girl, I could possibly go to humanities (if at all), become a teacher or work in other less paid, because feminized fields. But, for example, engineering studies, work in politics, high positions - all these are classes for men.


According to the author of "Posełek ...", a way to crush this entrenched mechanism could be, for example, showing women in the public space in roles other than wives and mothers, or using in language (quite in the case of Polish, natural feminatives for her). Wiechnik refers here to Zofia Moraczewska, who claimed that the change begins with the word. Moraczewska also believed that the presence of women in politics could significantly change her face.

- This is what Zofia wrote towards the end of her life in the text she called her "testament" - quotes the author of the book about the first Polish parliamentarians. - "[Need for] a new way of thinking and a persistent, long-lasting - very hard fight with routine and tradition - which has taught people for centuries to worship, above all, military actions, heroism in the fight against the enemy, which has sanctified and haloed a simple murder - killing a man". [source: Moraczewska Zofia, My Testament. Written to the general public in 1945, Wrocław 1946]. Moraczewska said that there is too much in Polish politics, in the historical message of glorifying conflicts, presenting war as something great and wonderful, death in defense of the homeland as the greatest fate, and there are too few examples of work to prevent conflicts, learning to mediate, trying to understand other perspectives instead of imposing your own. And that the latter could be offered to Polish politics by women.

You can read (and watch) more about it in the comic book published by the STER Foundation, entitled No gender difference. The history of the struggle for women's electoral rights - A. Grzybek and B. Sosnowska.

Polish women in politics today
Wanda Nowicka, Member of the Sejm of the 7th and 9th term of the Sejm, deputy speaker of the 7th term of the Sejm, initiator of the Parliamentary Team for Women, led, inter alia, to grant one of the parliamentary rooms the patronage of the famous Polish woman - Zofia Moraczewska, a member of the 1st Sejm of 1918 (until recently it was the only parliamentary room named after a woman). How does Nowicka perceive the election rights of Polish women and their role in politics from the perspective of a politician?

Monika Ksieniewicz-Mil: What do you associate the date of November 11 with?

Wanda Nowicka: Not with an epochal card in the history of Poland, unfortunately, but rather with nationalists and Bączkiewicz's marches. When I was organizing the celebration of the 100th anniversary of empowering women in 2018, I was surprised how many people do not know it did not take place on November 11! For feminists, people dealing with gender studies, historians and specialists it is obvious, but for the rest of society it is still a white, empty page that does not make it into the mainstream.

Do you think the equal participation of women in political decision-making is important?

There should be equal and fair representation of social groups in parliament - although the binary division into two genders is abandoned, there are still officially two genders and this should also be reflected in the place where key decisions for the state are made.

Unfortunately, despite many educational activities and legal instruments, there are still fewer women in politics, which translates into both politics and the atmosphere in the Seym. Recently, I spoke with a friend from the Finnish parliament (women were granted the right to vote in 1906 as the first in Europe - editor's note), who said that the fact that they have a lot of women in the parliament does not mean that all of them are feminists, of course there are also conservatives. As a deputy, I proposed a draft parity bill - both in the previous term and in this one, but it had no chance of being considered. Without the greater participation of women in public life, nothing will change. Priorities should be adapted to social needs, and women are closer to the common man - and these issues are not discussed very often in parliament.

Of course, greater participation of women in decision-making is also required by the principle of equality, enshrined in national and international legal acts, but also by ordinary human justice. It is important that everyone can co-decide, bring niche cases to the podium.

Do you think women in parliament really make the world more equal?

Yes, with your mere presence in the Sejm. I have a comparison between the 7th and 9th term of the Sejm. Now there are only feminists in the Lewica club, we have a women's agenda (fight for abortion, violence against women, sexual education, quotas, etc.), and in VII I was alone, practically without support. It is true that there was Ania Grodzka and there was Robert Biedroń, but they focused on other matters. In the current term of office, the very fact that there are so many of us, that there are almost races for who will propose and that we are constantly talking about feminist matters, makes other clubs, such as PO or even PiS, also talk about it. It is true that the other clubs do not treat these matters as principally as the Left, but selectively, but a trace remains. For example, recently, with my friend from my club, Anita Kucharska-Dziedzic, we had a press conference on violence against women in connection with the resolution in the European Parliament, in which a new topic appeared - children living in abusive families who observe violence. The topic of children is ignored and ignored. I made an official appeal to Prime Minister Morawiecki for funds for this, and two days later, Anna Schmidt, the plenipotentiary for equal treatment, replied to me on Twitter that they already had the project and that there would be money for it.

Which women in parliament do you consider the most important?

Barbara Labuda, Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka, Olga Krzyżanowska, Zofia Kuratowska. The latter, in my opinion, should be honored with a room in the senate.

In 2014, Sejm Room 25 was officially named after Zofia Moraczewska - a social activist and politician of the left, a member of the Legislative Sejm and the Sejm of the 3rd term in the Second Polish Republic, the wife of Jędrzej Moraczewski, the prime minister of the interwar period. Can you recall the backstage?

It was my original idea - Zofia Moraczewska was not only a significant MP, but also had a well-known name, and despite the fact that she came from the PPS, the then Speaker of the Sejm, Ewa Kopacz, agreed to this proposal. Besides, the Civic Platform and the Parliamentary Group of Women actively participated in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of granting electoral rights to women. I organized an exhibition of female MPs and senators of the Second Polish Republic, and the Civic Platform adopted a commemorative resolution.


Only recently, in June 2021, room 412 in the building "U" of the Chancellery of the Sejm was named after Olga Krzyżanowska. This is the second room to be honored with the name of the deputy. It is very important that we remind other generations of parliamentarians that our history was made not only by men but also by women. Olga Krzyżanowska was not only a deputy, deputy speaker of the Sejm, but also a senator, and above all a person very involved in the fight for a democratic Poland.

You were deputy marshal for four years in the Sejm of the 7th term, what do you remember the most from that period?

I believe that - considering those conditions - I used my chance to the maximum. On my initiative, the "Women's-friendly Seym" was established - dozens of discussions, meetings and conferences on women's issues, social issues, not only with women, but with all social groups that you do not meet in the Seym on a daily basis - the excluded or with disabilities . I fought for the language - how it is used and in what form - feminists entered salons and, most of all, parliament! Usually, the deputy speaker does not initiate bills, but I tried to come up with the initiative - although none of my bills were adopted, it certainly increased the visibility of feminist topics, because I tried to publicize everything. The fight for equality is a long-term process - as can be seen from the recent events that are taking place in Poland, you can't win something with a snap of your finger, once and for all. Women's and feminist issues are now being raised in the Sejm all the time, and in the past - when I was still active in an NGO, as the head of the Federation for Women and Family Planning, I did not have such a range.

Your advice to a young girl who would like to go into politics?

Take care of her, because if not, politics will take care of you - as the recent Constitutional Court judgment on abortion showed.

Source:
sevenosmych.pl