The feminisation of politics – a debate
December 9, 5.00 p.m. – 7.00 p.m., Big Stage of Powszechny Theatre

➤ participants:
– dr Justyna Glusman – economist, activist 
– Aldona Machnowska-Góra – vice-director of Studio Theatre
– dr Ewa Rumińska-Zimny – economist 
– Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus – politician and activist
– dr Katarzyna Sztop-Rutkowska – sociologist
– dr hab. Joanna Wowrzeczka – academic, activist and Cieszyn councillor
– prof. Maciej Gdula – sociologist

➤ moderator: Agata Diduszko-Zyglewska

An ever increasing number of women hold decision-making positions in local and central government. This is a trend that spells hope for an important shift and a stronger presence in the public sphere of representatives of more than half of the country’s population. However, the mere closing, or at least reducing, the gender gap in government positions will not automatically give us a fairer, more balanced, more participatory and greener model of governance. To achieve this, we need to radically reassess the concepts, axioms and tools of public administration, which, according to many, constitute a playing field whose boundaries are sacrosanct. However, redefining these boundaries is a prerequisite for real change.

The proposal to feminize politics responds to this need, positing new mechanisms and tools of social change based on values such as: cooperation, transparency, solidarity, care and relationality, as opposed to hierarchy, arbitrarily defined ‘natural order’, efficiency, competition and increased consumption seen as markers of success.

How to translate the proposal of feminisation into the practice of city management and management of funds pulled in a joint budget? How to ensure that these values have a real impact on everyday practices in the fields of employee rights, social services, housing, women’s rights and education? How to effectively reach residents with the proposals of the economy of complexity and the idea of post-growth instead of GDP growth?

In this debate we will look for answers to these and other questions. Its participants embody the principle ‘Act locally, think globally’. They are people who push the pre-determined and theoretically inviolable boundaries of the current playing field.