Magdalena Środa (née Magdalena Ciupak, b. January 7, 1957 in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
) is a Polish
feminist politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
and
philosopher, extraordinary professor of ethics at the
University of Warsaw
The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields o ...
, and a feminist author. She is also a
columnist for the ''
Gazeta Wyborcza
''Gazeta Wyborcza'' (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It is the first Polish daily newspaper after the era of " real socialism" and one of Poland's newspapers of record, covering the ...
''. She was government's Plenipotentiary for the Equal Status of Women and Men in the
cabinet of Marek Belka between August 16, 2004 and November 4, 2005.
Life and career
She studied
philosophy at the
University of Warsaw
The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields o ...
, where in 1982 she obtained her
doctoral degree
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...
. Between 1982–1991, she worked as an assistant and later
assistant professor
Assistant Professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States and Canada.
Overview
This position is generally taken after earning a doctoral degree
A docto ...
at the Faculty of Ethics of the University of Warsaw. She currently works at the faculty as an
associate professor.
In 1980s Magdalena Środa was active in
Solidarność
Solidarity ( pl, „Solidarność”, ), full name Independent Self-Governing Trade Union "Solidarity" (, abbreviated ''NSZZ „Solidarność”'' ), is a Polish trade union founded in August 1980 at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland. Subseq ...
movement. After 1989 she would not be involved in politics until 2004, when she was appointed by PM
Marek Belka
Marek Marian Belka (; born 9 January 1952 in Lódź) is a Polish professor of economics and politician who has served as Prime Minister of Poland and Finance Minister of Poland in two governments. He is a former Director of the International M ...
as the government's Plenipotentiary for the Equal Status of Women and Men. She has been advocating the separation of State and Church,
LGBT rights
Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender ( LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality.
Notably, ...
, and more liberal abortion law. She is also known for her consistently anti-war stance on foreign policy.
In December 2004 there was a controversy over Środa's statement during an international conference on
honour killing
An honor killing (American English), honour killing (Commonwealth English), or shame killing is the murder of an individual, either an outsider or a member of a family, by someone seeking to protect what they see as the dignity and honor of t ...
s in
Stockholm. When asked about the situation in Poland, she told
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was esta ...
: "Catholicism does not directly support or oppose violence against women. But there are indirect links through culture which is strongly based on religion". These words were widely quoted in Polish media and sparked a public discussion about violence against women.
Another controversy blew up in March 2008 when Środa spoke publicly against the idea of protective measures for pregnant women in labour relations. When criticised by parts of feminist movement for neglecting issues of social and economic justice, she responded: "either we do fight for serious treatment on labour markets or for the role of a holy cow because of an inseminated egg".
Her academic research is focused on questions of individualism and its different critiques (from postmodern, feminist and communitarian positions) as well as on the ethics and politics of gender relations.
Top candidate to the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
in 2009 from the list of red-orange-green coalition of
Social Democracy of Poland
The Social Democracy of Poland ( pl, Socjaldemokracja Polska, SDPL) is a social-democratic political party in Poland.
Foundation
The party was founded in April 2004 as a splinter group from the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD). Th ...
-
Democratic Party – demokraci.pl
The Democratic Party ( pl, Partia Demokratyczna – demokraci.pl), abbreviated to PD, was a minor social-liberal political party in Poland. It had no members of the Sejm, Senate, or European Parliament.
Its foundation was publicly announced o ...
-
Greens 2004
The Greens ( pl, Partia Zieloni, PZ) is a political party in Poland.
It was formed in 2003 under the name "Greens 2004" and formally registered itself in February 2004. It supports principles of green politics, and it is positioned on the ce ...
(recommended by Zieloni 2004) in
Łódź
Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...
region. She received 10 798 votes (2,25% of all votes in her region).
Serwis PKW – Wybory 2009
/ref> Coalition did not pass 5% threshold.
Bibliography
*''Idea godności w kulturze i etyce'' (The Idea of Dignity in Culture and Ethics), Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the University of Warsaw, 1993
*''Idee etyczne starożytności i średniowiecza: podręcznik do etyki dla I klasy szkoły średniej'', WSiP, Warsaw, 1994
*''Idee etyczne czasów nowożytnych i współczesności: podręcznik do etyki dla II klasy szkoły średniej'', WSiP, Warsaw, 1998
*''Indywidualizm i jego krytycy'' (Individualism and Its Discontents), Fundacja Aletheia, Warsaw, 2003
*''Kobiety i władza'' (Women and Power), Wydawnictwo W.A.B., Warsaw 2009
*''Etyka dla nauczycieli'', Fundacja im. F. Ebeta, 2009
*''Mała książka o tolerancji'', Czarna Owca, Warsaw, 2010
*''Ta straszna Środa?'', Czerwone i Czarne, Warsaw, 2011
*''Etyka dla myślących: podręcznik dla szkół ponadgimnazjalnych'', Czarna Owca, Warsaw, 2011
*''O gender i innych potworach'', Czarna Owca, Warsaw, 2014
*''Obcy, inny, wykluczony'', słowo/obraz terytoria, Gdańsk, 2020
See also
*Feminism in Poland
According to one scholarly postulation, the history of feminism in Poland can be divided into seven periods, beginning with the 19th century first-wave feminism. The first four early periods coincided with the foreign partitions of Poland, which ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sroda, Magdalena
1957 births
Living people
Polish feminists
Polish atheists
University of Warsaw faculty
The Greens (Poland) politicians
Polish women philosophers
Polish ethicists
20th-century Polish philosophers
21st-century Polish philosophers
20th-century Polish women