Women’s Executive Leadership in Poland

This paper examines women who have ascended as prime ministers in Poland: Hanna Suchocka (1992-1993), Ewa Kopacz (2014-2015), and Beata Szydło (2015-2017). Part of a larger book project on women executives in Central and Eastern Europe, we outline women’s paths to office, powers exercised, and circumstances leading to the ends of their prime ministerial terms. We further examine their impact on women’s political empowerment linked to their roles as policymakers, selectors, and symbols. We also discuss how gender shaped their tenures more generally and examine implications regarding opportunities and constraints women executive leaders face. Findings are based in part on elite interviews conducted in Poland in 2022.