Feminism in Poland
Poland stands in a unique position due to the increasing role of the Catholic Church and complex association of feminism with communist rule.
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).
in 1870 Adam Wiślicki published an article, "Niezależność kobiety" ("Woman's Independence"), in Przegląd Naukowy, containing radical demands for equality of the sexes in education and the professions.
The most radical feminist demands appeared in Edward Prądzyński's book, O prawach kobiety (On Women's Rights, 1873), which advocated full equality of the sexes in every domain.
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 Russian newspaper Pravda (Truth) published an article by Ludwik Krzywicki, "Sprawa kobieca" ("The Woman Question"), which postulated that women's liberation was inherent to the capitalist economy.
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.
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).
[6] Róża Melcerowa expressed those feelings: Feminism (...) in fact ended among those nations where de jure had secured its object: social and political equality.
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.
[13] Even during the earlier communist years, much of the expansion of women in the workplace was done out of necessity; because many men died at war and due to rapid plans for industrialization that required more labor.
[14][15] After Stalin’s death, the ideal of women as mothers (Matka Polka) returned and men saw female breadwinning as a threat to masculinity.
Thus, after his death, there was more freedom and political openness but women were limited by the new reinforcement of gender hierarchies as they were removed from their more “masculine” jobs and forced back into the home.
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[need quotation to verify].
[19] In 1981, Wojciech Jaruzelski, the last leader of communist Poland, felt threatened by the organization and declared martial law, outlawing Solidarity.
Daily–but crucial–organizational tasks like typing and editing articles, building teams, providing shelter and recruiting volunteers were considered women’s work.
Feminism in post-communist Poland is contested by the Polish public due to the influence of the Catholic Church in an ongoing "war on gender".
After the Polish government introduced the de facto legal ban on abortions (on January 7, 1993), feminists have changed their strategies.
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.
[23][failed verification] A proposed total ban on abortion, which had first been introduced in September 2016, and later in April 2016, has initiated a wave of demonstrations Black Protest, raising awareness about the women's right situation in Poland worldwide.
Eva Kotchever (1891–1943) was an activist, owner of the famous Eve's Hangout in Greenwich Village, deported from the United States for "obscenity", murdered at Auschwitz.
Agnieszka Graff (1970) – an author, human rights activist, and a co founder of Porozumienie Kobiet 8 Marca, she works at Warsaw University's Institute of the Americas and Europe.
[30] Wanda Nowicka (1956) is a Polish Politician, perhaps best known for her fight for legal abortion and her work co-founding the Federation for Women and Family Planning in 1992.
