Nadia Oleszczuk is an activist in

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 ...

who became a founding member of the Consultative Council created on 1 November 2020 in the context of the October–November 2020 Polish protests. Oleszczuk's role in the Council covers workers' rights issues including

workforce casualisation Workforce casualisation is the process in which employment shifts from a preponderance of full-time and permanent positions to casual and contract positions. In Australia, 35% of all workers are casual or contract employees who are not paid for si ...

and

wages for housework The International Wages for Housework Campaign (IWFHC) is a grassroots women's network campaigning for recognition and payment for all caring work, in the home and outside. It was started in 1972 by Mariarosa Dalla Costa,Dalla Costa, M. & James, S ...

Childhood and education

Oleszczuk was a member of the XIIIth sitting of the Polish Parliament of Children and Youth. In September 2017, she was chosen as the

Lubusz Voivodeship Lubusz Voivodeship, or Lubuskie Province ( pl, województwo lubuskie ), is a voivodeship (province) in western Poland. It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Gorzów Wielkopolski and Zielona Góra Voivodeships, pursuant to the Po ...

representative on the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

's Children and Youth Council of the Polish Republic. Oleszczuk attended the Stanisław Staszic

Lyceum The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Generally in that type of school the th ...

(high school) in

Rzepin Rzepin (german: Reppen) is a town in western Poland. Situated in the Lubusz Voivodeship (since 1999), in Słubice County it is a seat of the urban-rural Rzepin Gmina. From 1975 until 1998 the town, from an administrative point of view, belonged t ...

, studying her final year during the 2018/2019 academic year.

Activism

In August 2020, Oleszczuk signed the appeal of students and faculty of 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 of ...

objecting to the closing of the main gate of the university that had occurred when police attacked protestors during the

August 2020 LGBT protests in Poland On 7 August 2020, a protest against the arrest of LGBT activist Margot led to a confrontation with police in central Warsaw and resulted in the arrest of 47 others, some of whom were protesting and others who were bystanders to the event, dubbed ...

. In October 2020, Oleszczuk became a member of the youth committee of the ''Trade Union Alternative'' ( pl, Związkowa Alternatywa). During the

2022 Ukrainian refugee crisis An ongoing refugee crisis began in Europe in late February 2022 after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Almost 5.9 million refugees have since left Ukraine, while an estimated 7.7 million people had been displaced within the country by 21 April. A ...

that occurred as a result of the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, Oleszczuk was programme coordinator and president of the youth section of

UNI Global Union UNI Global Union, formerly Union Network International (UNI), is a global union federation for the skills and services sectors, gathering national and regional trade union. It has affiliated unions in 150 countries representing 20 million workers ...

's Polish affiliate

All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions The All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions ( pl, Ogólnopolskie Porozumienie Związków Zawodowych, OPZZ) is a national trade union center founded in 1984. History Following the decisions of the Polish government declaring the Solidarity trade u ...

KP. She stated that many Ukrainian women refugees in Poland needed help to negotiate with employers to obtain their rights under Polish labour law. In 2022, Oleszczuk was classified as a finalist in ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

"25 under 25" ranking for social activists.

Consultative Council

On 1 November 2020, Oleszczuk became a founding member of the Consultative Council of Poland, for the topic of women working on temporary contracts. Oleszczuk described her selection for the position stating, "You could say that a place was made for me because I'm a young woman and I should fight for my rights". ''

Do Rzeczy ''Do Rzeczy'' (, lit. ''To the point'') is a Polish-language conservative and liberal weekly news and political magazine published in Warsaw, Poland. It often promotes the PIS party narrative. History and profile ''Do Rzeczy'' was established ...

'' stated that Oleszczuk was a replacement for her partner, Jan Zygmuntowski, in the Council. Oleszczuk stated that one of the main aims of the protests was to change attitudes to abortion, so that it is seen as an ordinary medical treatment. During a Consultative Council press conference on 24 November 2020, Oleszczuk summarised Council working group discussions on the topic of women workers' rights. She stated that pressure was needed against employers who employed workers on temporary contracts ( and ) for doing work that should really be carried out under regular full-time work law. Oleszczuk commented that women working on

dead-end job A dead-end job is a job where there is little or no chance of career development and advancement into a better position. If an individual requires further education to progress within their firm that is difficult to obtain for any reason, this can ...

s ( pl, śmieciowce) missed out on their right to

parental leave Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, Paternity (law), paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" an ...

. She reported on proposals for insurance rights for trainees and funding for young people prior to their first work contracts. Oleszczuk described the situation of the

precariat In sociology and economics, the precariat () is a neologism for a social class formed by people suffering from precarity, which means existing without predictability or security, affecting material or psychological welfare. The term is a portmant ...

as "twenty-first century slavery" and said that it had to be ended. On 1 December, Oleszczuk stated that proposals under discussion by the Council included a shorter work day for women to counter the "second shift" (women's greater work pressure to succeed and workload while formally working equal numbers of hours to men); and

, a demand by women to be paid for their unpaid housework, organised as a campaign started in 1972 by

Selma James Selma James (born Selma Deitch; formerly Weinstein; August 15, 1930) is an American writer, and feminist and social activist who is co-author of the women's movement book ''The Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community'' (with Mariarosa ...

Points of view

In a July 2022 interview with '' Wysokie Obcasy'', Oleszczuk described herself as favouring

social feminism Social feminism is a feminist movement that advocates for social rights and special accommodations for women. It was first used to describe members of the women's suffrage movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who were con ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oleszczuk, Nadia Living people Polish women's rights activists Polish women activists Polish trade unionists Year of birth missing (living people)