I can imagine left-wing female councilors being able to work with nuns at a community center. Difficult times require extraordinary actions and searching for compromises.
I am a huge fan of the slogan “Girls, don’t be so b….. to each other”. It appears to capture our perspective on female rivalry: a dishonorable, uphill battle accompanied by slander, jealousy and guilt-tripping, unjustified lack of forgiveness, and promises of revenge.
I don’t want this to be another text about how bad and terrible it is for women in Poland Anno Domini 2022. I want us to take seriously the fact that sometimes we create this hell on earth for ourselves. And we don’t have to if only we start caring about solidarity and fighting common problems, rather than focusing on hounding political opponents.
Recently I have been waiting to board a plane with an assistant of Law and Justice MPs. I know that she works with social media and has been posting hateful tweets and comments defaming Marta Lempart and activists of the Polish Women’s Strike.
She talked to her boyfriend/partner about what they would watch on the plane and what they would listen to on the flight to Warsaw. She confessed that she had downloaded some movies because she liked having a choice and didn’t want anyone to make decisions for her. She said it so firmly and assertively that I smiled, debating with myself whether to talk to her and tell her that she impressed me very much with her statement; whether to invite her for coffee, walk around Brussels together, or even gossip about toxic bosses.
I’m sure it would be possible for us to talk calmly and without emotion about the need for better education or health care in Poland; about legislation that would close the wage gap between men and women or would lead to an improvement in the collection of child support ordered. Also maybe it would be possible to talk about leaving women’s caregiving roles and to think together about European integration or the formation of a common EU army.
To quote one of the speakers at this year’s Szkoła Liderów (Leadership School), “in our bubbles we argue mostly about a few heated worldview topics while we have hundreds, if not thousands, of everyday problems to solve, on which we are able to find agreement more quickly.”
Personally, I admire Polish women who decide to enter local or national politics. I envy them being laid-back, which comes naturally with experience in local government or NGOs acquired over the years. I would like them to be mentors for youth climate strike activists or those involved in urban movements. They fought for good places on electoral lists for young people and were able to empathetically step out of their generational bubble and think about what young women’s problems are.
Or at least, if possible, they were able to bring about funding for research in this area with funds from party budgets.
I would like to see collaboration on certain issues that is hammered out beyond the current political divisions. I can imagine brave female deputies from the ruling party who vote for universal access to abortion until the end of the 1st trimester of pregnancy. I can imagine left-wing female councilors being able to work with nuns at a community center. Difficult times require extraordinary actions and searching for compromises.
Written by Beata Krawiec – Graduate of European Studies at Jagiellonian University and the 21st. School of Political Leaders, she worked with Michał Boni in the Ministry of Digitization and in the European Parliament. She lives in Brussels.
The article was originally published in Polish at: https://liberte.pl/wizja-kobiecej-solidarnosci/
Translated by Natalia Banaś
