Kongres Kobiet, demokracja parytetowa i ruch kobiecy w Polsce
Women’s Congress, parity democracy and women’s movement in Poland

Summary/Abstract: The article tries to analyze the role of Polish Women’s Congress in 2009 and 2010 as important step in development or revitalization of women or feminist movement in Poland. It summarizes 20 years of women and feminist activities in Poland in a view of sociological concept of a social movement. Following former study conducted by Ewa Malinowska, it adapts theoretical framework of Alain Tourain, and bases on Malinowska’s research results, concerning both European and Polish women movements. Comparison between 2009/2010 and previous decade, analyzed by Malinowska, on one hand brings new social phenomena into the light, on the other completes and fulfills the portrayal of the movement with elements predicted by Malinowska. Such additional element, invisible ten years ago in Poland, and present in western Europe, was parity democracy. The idea of parity democracy, however having been present earlier in feminist thought, was popularized only recently by Polish Women’s Congress, the subject of and reason for the analysis. The congress may be viewed as less imperfect embodiment of women’s social movement than the other activities, as it made both community and collective activity under the same banner, without the third element of Touraine’s definition of social movement: an opponent. The phenomenon of the Congress and its effect onto society might be also studied from other theoretical perspective, given by Manuel Castells: of social movement as a network as a new form of social organization.

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