On November 28, 1918, Józef Piłsudski signed an electoral law allowing Polish women to vote. This was one of the fundamental changes of Polish law that has contributed to regaining the independnce after hundreds of years without it. Polish women were granted the right to vote sooner than their counterparts in the U.S. , UK or France. The 2018 has been therefore announced by Nowoczesna MP Elżbieta Stępień “The Year of Women’s Rights” (#2018RokPrawKobiet).
In the whole country we celebrate it in different ways:
-
we hold meetings and debates all over the country devoted to discussing contemporary state of women’s rights in Poland as well as overall situation of women. A series of meetings with Nowoczesna MPs, but also with representatives of other organizations dedicated to the issue. It is important to be aware that women’s rights are being constantly violated by the governing party (PiS), which is why there is still room to discuss their importance and to fight for them. Such meetings were already held in Warsaw, Poznań,Piotrków Trybunalski, Łódź, Siedlce, and numerous other Polish cities;
-
together with Polish women we take part in rallies , demonstrations, happenings, etc., organized in a response to the process of ongoing violations of women’s rights;
-
#NowoczesnaKobieta (an informal gathering of liberally oriented women) promotes strong women in different areas; each month, one woman is selected from a given field of expertise. Nowoczsna has so far identified Maja Ostaszewska (a Polish actress strongly involved in fight for women’s rights) and DJWika (a 74-year-old female DJ, who promotes activites for pensioners, thus beeing probably the eldest DJ in the world). Next, the representatives in such areas as health, science,sport, law, and politics, shall be selected;
-
promoting the idea of creating “Women’s Councils” (Rady Kobiety, cooperating with local authorities). One has already been established in the city of Koszalin by a coalition of different parties and their female representatives lead by the members of the Nowoczesna party of the City Hall;
-
presenting in the Polish Parliament proposals of bills that deal with the issues important for women in Poland;
-
taking part in meetings organized by Kongres Kobiet – the biggest NGO dedicated to Polish women’s rights. Within the scope of the initiative, Nowoczesna is promoting the idea of “More Women in Politics”. As such, during the last Kongres Kobiet in Kołobrzeg, Nowoczesna MP Monika Rosa conducted workshops for women devoted to how to start a career in the world of politics.
