Joanna Grażyna Kluzik-Rostkowska (born 14 December 1963) is a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

and member of the

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

for

Civic Platform Civic Platform ( pl, Platforma Obywatelska, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a political party in Poland. It is currently led by Donald Tusk. It ...

.Sjem webpage
/ref> She was elected for Law and Justice in 2007, but led a breakaway group in 2010 to form the more liberal

Poland Comes First Poland Comes First ( pl, Polska jest Najważniejsza), also rendered as Poland is the Most Important, shortened to Poland First, and abbreviated to PJN, was a centre-right, conservative liberal, political party in Poland. It was formed as a more ...

, of which she was leader. She resigned from the party in June 2011, joining Civic Platform following rumors. In November 2013, following a cabinet reshuffle by

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk ( , ; born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician who was President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019. He served as the 14th Prime Minister of Poland from 2007 to 2014 and was a co-founder and leader of the Civic ...

, Kluzik-Rostkowska was appointed to head the Ministry of National Education.

Early life

Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska was born on 14 December 1963 in Katowice,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. She graduated from the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields o ...

with an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in Journalism and Political Science. In 1989, she joined ''

Tygodnik Solidarność ''Tygodnik Solidarność'' (, "Solidarity Weekly") is a Polish weekly magazine. Started and published by the Solidarity movement on 3 April 1981, it was banned by the People's Republic of Poland following the martial law declaration from 13 Decemb ...

'', becoming a member of the paper's political section before moving on to ''Express Wieczorny'', becoming editor of the newspaper and garnering the attention of

Lech Kaczyński Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010. Before his tenure as president, he pre ...

, who was then chief of the

Presidential Chancellery The Presidential Chancellery (german: Präsidentschaftskanzlei) of Austria is an institution that assists the President with fulfilling his tasks as head of state. It is headquartered in the Leopoldine Wing of the Hofburg. The Chancellery is divi ...

. In 1996, Kluzik-Rostkowska joined the ranks of ''

Wprost ''Wprost'' (, meaning "Directly") is a Polish-language weekly news magazine published in Poznań, Poland.

'', becoming a political correspondent. She would later join the journal ''Nowe Państwo'' in 2000, followed by the ladies weekly ''Przyjaciółka'' between 2001 and 2004.

Political career

In 2004, Kluzik-Rostkowska entered Warsaw's municipal bureaucracy, becoming chief specialist of the mayor's press office. Kaczyński, now elected as

Mayor of Warsaw The city mayor of Warsaw, or more literally the ''city president of Warsaw'' (the official title in Polish is ''"prezydent miasta stołecznego Warszawy"'', literal translation ''"president of the capital city of Warsaw"'') is the head of the exe ...

, later appointed Kluzik-Rostkowska as head of the mayor's outreach department for women and families. As a member of Law and Justice, Kluzik-Rostkowska ran for a seat in the

during the 2005 parliamentary election, but failed to be elected. Nevertheless, Kluzik-Rostkowska joined the government of incoming Prime Minister

Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz (; born 20 December 1959) is a Polish conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland from 31 October 2005 to 14 July 2006. He was a member of the Law and Justice party (''Prawo i Sprawiedliwość'', PiS). ...

, who made her deputy head of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy. Before joining the ministry, Kluzik-Rostkowska voiced support for

in vitro fertilisation In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation where an egg is combined with sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating an individual's ovulatory process, removing an ovum or ova (egg or eggs) ...

during a media interview, prompting one of the government's junior coalition partners, the League of Polish Families, to threaten the coalition of withdrawing its support. However, the League failed to block Kluzik-Rostkowska's nomination, who later became head of the ministry's commission on the equal status of men and women. From August to November 2007, Kluzik-Rostkowska served as the Minister of Labour and Social Policy under the government of Prime Minister

Jarosław Kaczyński Jarosław Aleksander Kaczyński (; born 18 June 1949) is a Polish politician who is currently serving as leader of the Law and Justice party (known by its Polish acronym PiS), which he co-founded in 2001 with his twin brother, Lech Kaczyński, ...

. Kluzik-Rostkowska replaced Minister Anna Kalata of

Self-Defence Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in ...

during a cabinet reshuffle following Self-Defence's exit from the Law and Justice-led government. Despite the Kaczyński government's defeat in the 2007 parliamentary election, Kluzik-Rostkowska was elected to a seat in the

. In 2010, Kluzik-Rostkowska presided over

's campaign during the 2010 presidential election, called 'Poland Comes First'. A leading party moderate, she was ejected from Law and Justice after hinting of her candidacy for the party's leadership "if need be". Having left, she established

, a new political grouping with other Law and Justice dissidents including Sejm representatives Elżbieta Jakubiak and Paweł Poncyljusz, and MEPs Adam Bielan and

Michał Kamiński Michał Tomasz Kamiński (born 28 March 1972) is a Polish politician and a member of the Senate with the Union of European Democrats. He was chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists in the European Parliament from July 2009 until Ma ...

. She resigned from the party leadership on 5 June 2011, prompting rumors of her leaving the party altogether to join

. Following her defection to Civic Platform's ranks, Kluzik-Rostkowska described her decision as to "do everything o ensurethat Law and Justice do not return to power." She was reelected to the

as a member of Civic Platform in the 2011 parliamentary election, representing

Rybnik Rybnik (Polish pronunciation: ; szl, Rybńik) is a city in southern Poland, in the Silesian Voivodeship, around 38 km (24 mi) southwest of Katowice, the region's capital, and around 19 km (11 miles) from the Czech border. It is ...

. In November 2013, Kluzik-Rostkowska was appointed by Prime Minister

as the next Minister of National Education, replacing Krystyna Szumilas.

Footnotes

External links

Joanna Kluzik-Rostowska's webpage at the Sejm
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kluzik-Rostkowska, Joanna Living people 1963 births Politicians from Katowice University of Warsaw alumni Women government ministers of Poland Government ministers of Poland Poland Comes First politicians Law and Justice politicians Members of the Polish Sejm 2007–2011 Members of the Polish Sejm 2011–2015 Members of the Polish Sejm 2015–2019 Members of the Polish Sejm 2019–2023 Women members of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland 21st-century Polish women politicians