Kobiety w sferze polityki wybranych regionów Europy w świetle prasy feministycznej

Abstract

The aim of this article is to show and review the issues of women’s involvement in politics outlined in ‘Zadra’, a feminist newspaper which has been published in Krakow since 1999 by the Women’s Foundation eFKa. Detailed analysis of the articles brings the assumption that European regions are diversified according to women’s position in society and their involvement in the political field. Sweden was indicated as the leading European country in terms of achievements and implementations in the field of gender issues. Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway) were rated as the leading countries in the following aspects: gender mainstreaming, women’s selforganization, range of trust (by both, women and the whole society) towards women performing important political functions, and the percentage of women involved in politics reaching as high as 50%. Authoritarian or totalitarian regimes in different European countries result in merely an incidental participation of women in politics and tend to exclude them from political institutions (Belarus and Spain, during the Francisco Franco regime, serve as such examples). Articles in the press indicate that the Catholic Church and its widely understood ‘tradition’, with negative customs that it imposes on societies, are the most adverse factors in implementation the ideas of gender equality and they hinder women’s equal access to politics. ‘Zadra’ refers to Polish women’s ability and opportunities to be actively involved in the political area in a very critical way. The press takes into scrutiny a few aspects connected with women’s involvement in politics, such as: women’s membership in political parties and the political programs, as well as manifestoes of different political parties from the perspective of gender equality assumptions. All the political parties were criticized and rated low according to these assumptions. The most disapproving opinion was given to right-wing parties.