This presentation explores the trajectory of feminist organizing in Poland since the 1980s, focusing on the remarkable rise of a popular women’s rights movement in 2016. This mobilization, a landmark in Polish history, not only fought for women’s rights but came close to challenging the government itself—a development largely overlooked in broader international narratives.
The history of grassroots feminist organizing in Poland reveals a pattern of progress and setbacks. Key moments of solidarity and empowerment were followed by frustration, disillusionment, and fragmentation. These oscillations were shaped by external political constraints and challenges, which in feminist theory have been described e.g. as the "dilemma of difference." Additionally, intersectional positionalities within the movement revealed tensions that challenged the notions of solidarity.
Many participants experienced profound transformations, with some identifying as "women" or "feminists" for the first time. This fostered strong connections across national, diasporic, and transnational feminist networks. However, these moments of unity frequently dissolved into feelings of betrayal and discord, threatening the cohesion of a feminist movement. Are such movements doomed to fail, or must we shift our analytical lenses to understand their dynamics?
Adopting a long durée perspective, this presentation examines how Poland’s feminist mobilization oscillated between victory and unity on one hand, and decline and fragmentation on the other. The analysis draws on Rancière’s concept of the politics of the sensible, complemented by insights from feminist posthumanist and sociological spatial theories. This approach reframes feminist activism beyond traditional paradigms of recognition and redistribution, emphasizing the gendered politics of dissent and the dynamic formation of feminist movements through their gathering around matters of concern and care.
