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The Emergence of Transnational Subjects: The EU Eastern Enlargement and Women’s Activism in Poland Joanna Regulska, Rutgers University ( regulska@rci.rutgers.edu ). Outline. Theoretical Framing and Research Questions Context Empirical evidence

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  1. The Emergence of Transnational Subjects:The EU Eastern Enlargement and Women’s Activism in PolandJoanna Regulska, Rutgers University (regulska@rci.rutgers.edu)

  2. Outline • Theoretical Framing and Research Questions • Context • Empirical evidence • Discussion of emergence of women’s collective and transnational agency • Conclusions

  3. Rethinking Subjectivitiesand Mobilizations • Women’s subjectivities as lived and different experiences • Specificity of ECE: • Fragmentation and difference • Transformation of gender dynamics • Acceptance of liberal and neo-liberal ideology • Gender equality vs gender difference

  4. Research Questions • How are women's political subjectivities (re)conceptualized, (re)articulated and (re)created within the new transnational and supranational context? • How do new scalar configurations and spatial (re) arrangements contribute to the creation of new possibilities for voicing and shaping existing and emerging women’s political subjectivities? • How does access to new supranational spaces (such as the EU) contribute to the emergence of new possibilities for women’s political action?

  5. Empirical Evidence • Research funded by the NSF • Interviews: • leaders of women’s NGOs (2002-2007) • politicians: • Polish officials in Warsaw and Brussels • EU representatives in Brussels and Warsaw • Focus groups (2004, 2005, 2007) • Document and press analysis

  6. Context: EU Eastern Enlargement Opportunities: • possibilities for action and knowledge production • new legal measures • new policy-making context • role of social partners Challenges: • competing debates on European Integration • need to enhance capacities of women’s groups to intervene • internal conflicts between social groups

  7. Becoming Transnational Subjects • 1997-1999: Introducing • 1999-2001: Informing • 2002-2004: Engaging and Creating Partnerships • 2005 - Splitting, Competing and Winning, but being Marginalized

  8. Introducing: 1997-1999 • Focus on institutional mechanisms following Beijing conference • Acknowledgment by the Polish state that Poland does not meet EU equality standards • Failure of Polish women’s NGOs to enter negotiations and government’s refusal to include them • Time of hopes and engagement

  9. Introducing:1997-1999 • “We expected that something would happen, since we knew that in the EU NGOs have very different status, a different position vis-à-vis the state. We knew that they were not on the margins and that their voice was important. We also started to participate in various international events, where this voice was treated as important, [but] when I first heard about EU I had the feeling that I knew nothing (NPW2).”

  10. Informing:1999-2001 • Greater flow of information between EU and women’s NGOs • Harmonization of law, but lack of supporting institutional infrastructure • Adaptation of new language (sex discrimination, indirect discrimination, work of equal value, etc) • Expansion of the transnational political spaces

  11. Informing: 1999-2001 • “I have a feeling that we had something to say, particularly in the case of the changes in the Labor Code. Our earlier action might have had some impact on the government; it made them think about some issues. It is debatable, however, to what extent they started to think under the pressure of the organizations, or was it rather that they read something in the EU documents” (NPW2).

  12. Engaging and Creating Partnerships: 2002-2004 • New Political Context “There was a huge difference after 2001. First of all, they [the government] were aware that they had to consult on decisions with us, since this was a European Union requirement. Second, they had to institutionalize this consultation; so many political bodies were established to fulfill that requirement” (NPW9).” • Transnational Cooperation and Linkages (EWL, WIDE, ASTRA); establishment of PWL • New Forms of Interventions (technology, performativity, transnational solidarity)

  13. Democracy Without Women is a HalfDemocracy

  14. As a woman I have no countryAs a woman I want no countryAs a woman my country is the whole world

  15. Splitting, Competing and Winning, but being Marginalized IV: 2005- • Fragmentation, but also Discouragement • New alliances networks, and agendas • Distrust, Quarrel, Burn-Out and Delayed/Low Level of Social Activism • New Possibilities for Resistance • “Equality March” struggles • Case of Alicja Tysiac • Continues EU power

  16. Conclusion • Women’s political subjecthood strengthen • The EU as a mediator and as a catalyst • Reinforced power of the national state

  17. “Knowing that the European Union would not resolve certain problems for us, we nevertheless popularized the idea of the EU. We focused generally on the promotion of EU standards; in public we argued that they would oblige our state to change, even though we knew it would not be the case…. I think the European Union forced it [gender equality legislations] upon Poland itself. But we established our agenda in this process by being aware of what we knew and what we expected. We created the feeling that they [the government] could not fool with us and redefine our agenda” (NPW7).

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