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 * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

and member of the

Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...

for

Civic Platform The Civic Platform (, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a Centre-right politics, centre-right liberal conservative political party in Poland. Since ...

.Sjem webpage
/ref> She was elected for

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( , PiS) is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. The party is a member of European Conservatives and Refo ...

in 2007, but led a breakaway group in 2010 to form the more liberal

Poland Comes First Poland Comes First (), 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 moderate breakaway group from ...

, 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 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk (born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician and historian who has served as the prime minister of Poland since 2023, previously holding the office from 2007 to 2014. Tusk served as the president of the European Council (20 ...

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

Early life

Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska was born on 14 December 1963 in

Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. She graduated from the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

with an M.A. in Journalism and Political Science. In 1989, she joined ''

Tygodnik Solidarność ''Tygodnik Solidarność'' (, "Solidarity Weekly") is the main organ of the Independent Self-Governed Trade Union "Solidarity." As an anti-Communist union paper, it is also a Polish right-wing weekly magazine. Started and published by the Solidari ...

'', 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 in an air crash. The aircraft carrying ...

, who was then chief of the Presidential Chancellery. In 1996, Kluzik-Rostkowska joined the ranks of ''

Wprost ''Wprost'' (, meaning "Directly") is a Polish weekly news magazine published in Poznań, Poland.Mayor of Warsaw The Mayor of Warsaw (officially in ) is the head of the executive of the capital of Poland elected directly during local elections for a term of five years. Overview The first city mayor of Warsaw was Jan Andrzej Menich (1695–1696). Th ...

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

, 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, 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 in which an ovum, egg is combined with spermatozoon, sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating the Ovulation cycle, ovulatory process, then removing ...

during a media interview, prompting one of the government's junior coalition partners, the

League of Polish Families The League of Polish Families ( Polish: ''Liga Polskich Rodzin,'' , LPR) is a social conservative political party in Poland, with many far-right elements in the past. The party's original ideology was that of the National Democracy movement whic ...

, 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. He co-founded the Law and Justice (PiS) party in 2001 with his twin brother, Lech Kaczyński, and has served as its leader since 2003. He served as Prime Minister of Pola ...

. 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 tim ...

during a cabinet reshuffle following Self-Defence's exit from the

-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

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 Paweł Janusz Poncyljusz (born 18 May 1969 in Warsaw) is a Polish politician. He was elected to the Sejm on 25 September 2005, getting 4232 votes in Warsaw I (parliamentary constituency), Warsaw I as a candidate on the Law and Justice (Poland), L ...

, 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 ...

. 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: ; ) 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 mi) from the Czech Republic, Czech border. It i ...

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

as the next Minister of National Education, replacing

Krystyna Szumilas Krystyna Maria Szumilas (born 28 June 1956 in Knurów) is a Polish politician. She was elected to the Sejm on 25 September 2005 getting 16,105 votes in 29 Gliwice district as a candidate from the Civic Platform The Civic Platform (, PO)The p ...

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 Poland Comes First politicians Law and Justice politicians Civic Platform 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 Members of the Polish Sejm 2023–2027