Thursday, February 09, 2006

 

Solidarity Betrayed

Solidarity's Barbara Labuda worried in 1991 that the new democratic culture in Poland was being created with too few women demanding to be represented. She lobbied her Solidarity sisters to make their recent roles in the underground known, particularly the editors of the underground press, who, in her view, did not recognize women's entitlements needed to be safeguarded. Barbara alone understood that without formal recognition of women's vital roles, they would be made too politically weak to counter measures that went against their interests.

The right to abortion was banned in 1993. Spearheaded by the Catholic Church, "Men were retaliating to win back their lost powers," said Slawomira Wakzewska. "Both the Church and Solidarity betrayed us," noted Wanda Nowicka. "Abortion was being used as a bargaining chip traded away by liberals," observed Malgorzata Fuszara.

[One of the many lessons to be found in Solidarity's Secret by Shana Penn.]

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