Wokół koncepcji demokracji. Parytet płci w świetle polskiego dyskursu prasowego
Conceptualising Democracy? Constructions of Gender Parity in Polish Press Discourse

Summary/Abstract: This article analyses Polish media discourse about gender parity by arguing that the latter is not only a call for the increased participation of women in Polish public life but also a reason for the discursive redefinition of different visions of Polish democracy. The analysis focuses on a period between the first and second Polish Women’s Congress (2009–2010) when the idea of gender parity – and, later on, of the related official legal acts – became one of the central elements of Polish public debates. Anchored in the Discourse-Historical Approach in critical discourse analysis (CDA), the qualitative discourse analysis focuses on the constructions of arguments against gender parity in selected articles from key Polish broadsheet newspapers. The systematic analysis of those arguments allows establishing that gender is, in fact, treated as a decisive factor for one’s participation in the Polish public life. By the same token, the article explicates that media-based perceptions of parity as vital or marginal are directly related to broader definitions of gender as either social/cultural or biological. These, as the article shows, influence relevant conceptions of democracy and constructions of its key principles in acts of either discursively supporting or rejecting gender parity.

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