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Paper short abstract:

In the paper I explore local meanings and circulating discourses of democratic values in Poland through the lens of gender. I inquire into the implications of gender negotiations and the role the Europeanisation of desires and practices plays in making gender matter.

Paper long abstract:

Soon after the collapse of communism, protests against a bill introducing a restrictive anti-abortion law prompted public discussion about women's status, gender relations and equal opportunities in Poland. Various women's groups were formed and women's organisations founded. A new feminist movement was born.

In light of the impending European Union enlargement, women's organisations increasingly used the idea of Europe as a means and political strategy for the realisation of civil, political and social rights for women. Moreover, the Europeanisation and transnationalisation of feminism and gender brought about new discourses, practices and strategies.

In this paper I will explore local meanings, circulating discourses and multiple contestations of gender and feminism in Poland.

I will inquire into which role the 'Europeanisation of desires and practices' plays in making gender matter. The paper focuses on recent events and debates before and after Poland's EU accession. This focus allows to explore the hopes, wishes and strategies of women's organisations and informal networks in Warsaw and to look how the contention brought by the 'Europeanisation' of norms and values questions ideas about the Polish nation. In this respect, the following questions will be addressed:

How is gender reinterpreted on cultural grounds opposed to the 'Europeanisation of desires and practices' and how do economic, political-administrative and religious factors, as well as socio-cultural traditions inform a specific understanding of (gender) democracy?

The paper is based on fourteen months of fieldwork carried out in Warsaw between April 2004 and November 2005.