Women, the State, and the Need for Civil Society: The Liga Kobiet in Poland

Abstract

The Liga Kobiet (LK [Women's League]) has promoted women's social, economic, & political status in Poland in a quasi-government capacity since 1945. The establishment, organization, policy influences, & activities of the LK in the context of state-society relations are reviewed. Within the LK, women's interests & needs were defined by state socialism. The state usurped a parafeminist agenda linked to Marxism & constructed a neocorporatist women's movement, which directed discourse in Poland about gender. The consequences of serving women's issues under state socialism has resulted in the inability of Polish women to effectively organize around issues, a distruct of feminism, & a transitional democratic state that is clearly misogynist. M. Pflum