Poles’ attitudes towards the idea of introduction of additional mechanisms increasing participation of Polish women in political life

Abstract

In a discussion about a place of women in contemporary political life, the role of various actions and mechanisms aiming at increasing female involvement is extremely significant, since today women represent slightly more than half of the world population, and their participation in formal political structures remains insignificant. Without any doubt, since 1989, one may observe increasing women’s role in Polish political life. One of the proofs for it is a higher number of women registered as candidates before parliamentary elections, as well as higher percentage of women in Polish Sejm. In spite of this, Polish women are still less active in the political life than men, which results from the existence of several barriers hindering their participation and involvement in politics. The main aim of this article is to analyse the opinion of Poles on the activities of women in political life and introduction of additional mechanisms having the potential to increase women’s participation in political bodies. The research was based on empirical data collected in November and December 2013 within the project “Political preferences: Attitude – Identification – Behavior”.