Marta Mirosława Lempart (born 1979) is a Polish

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

activist and the founder of the

All-Poland Women's Strike The All-Poland Women's Strike or Polish Women's Strike ( pl, Ogólnopolski Strajk Kobiet, OSK) is a women's rights social movement in Poland, established in September 2016. It was set up in protest against the rejection by the Sejm of the Polish P ...

. Active since 2016 in widespread protests against tightening

abortion laws Abortion laws vary widely among countries and territories, and have changed over time. Such laws range from abortion being freely available on request, to regulation or restrictions of various kinds, to outright prohibition in all circumstances ...

under the conservative

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( pl, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość , PiS) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Poland. Its chairman is Jarosław Kaczyński. It was founded in 2001 by Jarosław and Lech Kaczyński as a direct su ...

party, Lempart has been targeted by the government with arrests and legal charges, and faced death threats from opponents of the protests. Her work has also included advocating for equal rights for members of Poland's

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

community and for people with

disabilities Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, se ...

. She is a vocal proponent of

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on Secularity, secular, Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the Separation of church and state, separation of relig ...

and the

separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...

Early life and career

Marta Lempart was born in 1979 in

Lwówek Śląski Lwówek Śląski (; german: Löwenberg in Schlesien; szl, Ślůnski Lwůwek) is a town in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship in Poland. Situated on the Bóbr River, Lwówek Śląski is about NNW of Jelenia Góra and has a population of about 9,000 i ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

. She is formally trained as a lawyer. Lempart held a minor role in the Polish

Ministry of Labour and Social Policy Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy of the Republic of Poland was formed in 2005 to administer issues related to labour and social policy of Poland. It was named Ministry of Labour and Social Policy until late 2015 when it was renamed to ...

during the

Civic Platform Civic Platform ( pl, Platforma Obywatelska, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a political party in Poland. It is currently led by Donald Tusk. It w ...

's time in power, during which time she worked to improve

disability rights The disability rights movement is a global social movement that seeks to secure equal opportunities and equal rights for all people with disabilities. It is made up of organizations of disability activists, also known as disability advocat ...

in the country. She then worked in

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

development. After the conservative

party came to power in 2015, Lempart began working with the

Committee for the Defence of Democracy The Committee for the Defence of Democracy, CDD ( pl, Komitet Obrony Demokracji, ''KOD'') is a Polish-born civic organization and NGO which among its goals includes promoting the European values, especially democracy, rule of law, and human ...

, a pro-European NGO.

Activism

Lempart's activism centers on

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

and secularism. In 2016, she co-founded the

, a social movement in support of women's rights, during preparations for the pro- abortion-access Black Protests. She describes the group's aims as including better abortion access, stronger women’s rights and LGBT rights, separation of church and state, and better health care. 02018 0198 RzeszówPride-Parade

Lempart ran for local office in

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

in 2018, but she did not gain a seat. She also ran unsuccessfully for 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 ...

the following year. The All-Poland Women's Strike, which she continues to lead, was one of the major forces behind the

2020–2021 women's strike protests in Poland '') , partof = the Polish constitutional crisis , image = , caption = Clockwise starting from top: protest in Kraków, protest in Bielsko-Biała, protest symbol, protest in Miodowa, protest in Wrocław. , date = 22 October 2020 – 27 Janua ...

, an anti-government protest movement in response to tightening abortion laws. Lempart encouraged

Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

to take a stand against their church during the protests, which drew significant pushback. She has been arrested various times throughout her years of activism, and charged with dozens of offenses. In February 2021, the Polish government charged Lempart with criminal felonies for her role in the women's strike protests and criticism of the Catholic Church, which she described as a form of political pressure on her movement. She has also received death threats from critics, forcing her to go into hiding away from her home.

Personal life

Lempart identifies as a lesbian. Her partner, Natalia Pancewicz, is also involved in feminist activism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lempart, Marta 1979 births Polish women's rights activists Polish feminists 21st-century Polish women politicians Polish abortion-rights activists Polish disability rights activists Polish women activists Polish LGBT rights activists Polish LGBT people Living people Women civil rights activists