A New Wave of Populist Feminism? Examining Identity Formation in the All Poland Women’s Strike, 2016-2021

Abstract

This thesis traces the development of identity in the All Poland Women’s Strike (OSK), a feminist movement protesting abortion restrictions, between 2016 and 2021. Contrary to scholars who have emphasized the movement’s horizontal power dynamics and ‘connective’ identity construction, this thesis argues that leadership played a significant role both in OSK’s protest and its other forms of action. Employing a populist-securitization framework, this research focuses on Marta Lempart as the securitizing actor who could define the threats of the women’s movement, while shaping its developing identity. Interview testimonies with Lempart indicate a strong anti-establishment identity, reflecting a continuity of distrust in the liberal establishment. Moreover, research highlights the signs of transnational populist-securitization in the movement’s collaborative efforts with Argentinian feminists. While scholars have suggested national identity was of great significance to protesters, research based on Lempart’s relations with the EU challenges this assumption. In addition to characterising the movement as more top-down in its identity formation than previously assumed, this study also locates many of the movement’s core beliefs in the history of the Polish feminist movement and Poland’s experience of Europeanization more generally.