2002 International Policy Junior Fellow

The political situation of women in the transformation of East European countries has been acknowledged as complex and often deteriorating, resulting in a pronounced withdrawal of women from political life. The same can be said about the economic effects of transition. In the case of Poland, the economic, reproductive, and political rights of women have suffered some negative changes since 1989. At best, the impact of political transformation on women’s rights in Poland has been contradictory. The participation of women in politics had been low in all the previous elections and the legislation on women’s issues was continually marginalised. There have been numerous interesting developments in this situation, however, in the election campaign of 2001. Most notably, more parties adopted informal quota on electoral lists (30 percent of women candidates) and women’s organisations have organised numerous campaigns to promote women candidacy to parliament and to pressure candidates into taking a position on women’s issues. In addition, several parties included more or less developed gender equality agenda in their electoral programs . The outcome of the elections in terms of women’s representation (a rise from 13 to 20 percent of women MPs) and its possible effects on politics deserve serious attention.

In the light of the experience of Polish electoral politics, which had marginalised both women’s issues and women candidates, the quota system seems to present itself a possible solution to the problem. Nevertheless, there are numerous questions that need to be addressed as far as the quota system within electoral party politics is concerned:

• The quota system is tied to the type of electoral politics and general political culture in particular countries. On the other hand, there is no single electoral system, which has resulted in complete equality in the share of political power between men and women. Each system has its advantages and disadvantages, although feminist scholars favour the PR system of which Poland is an example. The usefulness of particular programs must be seen in this light, while comparisons with similar and different cases in the West and East are definitely important for gender policy making.
• Importantly, quota systems seem to work best where there is broad public support and very strong women’s activism involved in the process of negotiating them. In Poland, public opinion on the quota system, or any other ‘positive discrimination’, continues to be negative or at best highly polarised among the politicians, within the media and in the general population. This goes hand in hand some extremely antifeminist attitudes in politics. However, there are interesting changes following the last elections both within party politics and in the sphere of open society and the impact of international pressure (European Union, Council of Europe, United Nations) has played a role in the process. Therefore, three areas of pressure for gender policy development present themselves as relevant: the international level, the national level and the grassroots level. Moreover, the more general question of what is gender policy needs to be answered.
• There are numerous problems to be solved in considering the introduction of the quota system. Apart from questions of public opinion and political culture, women’s lobbying should be taken into account in developing future content and direction of gender policy in the area of women’s political participation and more generally. The experiences, political style and goals of the current women politicians should also be considered. In particular, women’s lobbying in parliament and electoral coalitions going beyond party lines are of paramount importance for change in party politics on gender.
• The debate in literature and in the public sphere surrounding any gender equality legislature, quota systems included, needs be studied as all arguments for and against such actions should be a part of devising the most effective strategies based on balanced recommendations. The notions of democratic representation, as well as practical questions of effectiveness and time span of any such measure are central.
• The women’s public opinion and needs as electorate should be taken into consideration; successful ways of increasing women’s support for female politicians and the quality of gender politics promoted by them should also be considered. The experiences from other countries and the recent developments in Polish politics can be a basis for suggesting further actions both in Poland and elsewhere.

In this project I will assess the gender content of the Polish electoral politics, the debate on quota systems as well as NGOs’ activity in the last elections and their possible short-term and longer-term results on Polish politics in order to come up with the best recommendations for future policy making. The international pressure and the grassroots pressure on adoption of gender policies will be considered. The comparisons with West European politics will be made to suggest possible models and also to highlight differences. The effects of the quota system in the last parliamentary elections (in relation to the parties that introduced it) will also be explored in the light of women candidacy and the content of gender politics in the previous elections. Taking into consideration all these developments and the existing literature on gender and party politics, future policy recommendations will follow from answering these questions:

1. If quota legislation was to be recommended, which type of quota system could be implemented in this context and what would be the predicted level of effectiveness of such a choice i.e. should the stress be put on introducing statutory quotas through national legislation or through internal party electoral regulations?
2. For how long should the quota system be continued in order to bring any effect, and how might such an effect be enhanced? In fact, how can we stipulate what would constitute this effectiveness if we bear in mind the wider notion of gender policy not only a certain percentage of women in power?
3. What other changes are necessary for the quota system to be effective (for example, in terms of public opinion, using the leverage of international organisations and/or women’s lobbying)?
4. Finally, can the Polish recommendations be of use to other countries in the region, how can comparisons be drawn and effective policies suggested, as well as what are the major differences to be taken into account in the process?

Any research project related to gender and politics demands a multilevel, diversified approach, as the problems involved are complex and not easily generalised. Therefore a combination of research into primary material related to last elections as well as secondary material on party politics and previous research into women in politics, (in Poland and in other countries) and the available research on quotas will constitute a basis of the research. The project will be further expanded by fieldwork in women’s NGOs in Poland and if possible, interviews with women in parliament themselves. In general terms, a case study approach with comparative elements and a combination of existing statistical information and qualitative research is necessary to explore the issue at hand.

The research is important as it will address one of the most controversial strategies of impacting the level of (and possibly the quality of) women’s representation in national legislature. This is a vital aspect of gender politics in the region. Poland is an interesting case to study due to its conservative politics on women on the one hand and very ambitions European Union aspirations on the other. Numerous general questions could also be partially addressed by the research:

• There is no straightforward and unproblematic relationship between the gender of the parliamentarians and the policies they adopt which affect women. There are definitely no easy solutions in terms of impacting either women’s participation in politics or the representation of women’s interests. Nevertheless, a case has been made by feminist scholars that without strong women’s representation women’s issues will be treated instrumentally, and political life will continue to be based on masculine notions of state and its relation to citizens.

• Women’s political activism has been placed predominantly in the realm of civil society and women’s organisations outside high politics, which in most countries to date has been a male-dominated enterprise. This has happened in Eastern Europe in particular, where women’s role in the public life has been marginalised and conservative policies on women have followed. But women’s organisations and NGOs are vital in putting women’s issues on the political agenda and putting pressure on both politicians and women voters to take action to increase women’s share of political power. The scope and effectiveness of the NGO’s electoral campaign in Poland can be relevant also for other countries in the region, particularly where the debate has not been very pronounced to date.

• Following the developments of the election of September 2001 in Poland, that is partial adoption of quotas by some parties and the subsequent rise in women MPs interesting questions arise as to the effectiveness of gender equality legislature in electoral politics. The possibility/effectiveness of quota systems as future policy recommendations for gender equality legislation deserve careful attention. Poland could be an interesting comparative example for other countries in the region, bearing in mind the diversity of electoral systems and other structural differences. Nevertheless, the emergence of the issue on political agenda and future directions in the adoption of quota systems, their effectiveness and shortcomings are of importance for Polish politics and outside.

Poland is an example of a developing democracy, with ambitions to join European structures. But without solutions to the problem of participation of women in political decision making, the slogan used by one women’s organisation in Poland that ‘democracy without women is half a democracy’ will continue to be an appropriate description of the existing gender relations in Poland.