Poland: a Success Story?

Thanks to their own activity and the organised women’s movement, women in Poland obtained voting rights quite early, in 1918. However, before the introduction of the quota, women’s share on electoral lists never exceeded 23%, even in communist times. During the post-1989 systemic transition the share of women in parliament actually dropped to 10–13%, leading women to repeatedly strive to introduce a quota-based system. Gender-neutral quotas of 35% were introduced as late as 2011 thanks to the enormous mobilisation of women and women’s NGOs, particularly the Women’s Congress (Kongres Kobiet). Since then we have seen a slow but steady increase in women’s share of the lower house (Sejm) to 27%. In the upper house (Senat), elected under a majority system, the share of women is much lower (13%) and has not changed. Discourse regarding the quota system has made women’s presence in politics an important political issue. Before the 2015 elections Poland’s prime minister was a woman, and the elections led to another woman being appointed to this post. However, the party that won those elections had opposed gender quotas on electoral lists, which may represent a threat to the future of the gender quota system in Poland.