Wanda Hanna Nowicka (born 21 November 1956) is a Polish social activist and politician, 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' ...

since 20199th Sejm archives: and previously between 2011 and 2015.7th Sejm archives: She served as the

Deputy Marshal of the Sejm Deputy Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland () is a person elected to preside over Sejm (Polish lower chamber of parliament) sessions when the Sejm Marshal is not presiding. Throughout the course of the Third Republic, there have always be ...

from 8 November 2011 to 11 November 2015. Born in

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

, she attended 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 ...

, graduating with a degree in

classical philology Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek and Roman literature and their original languages, ...

, and worked as a teacher of

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

and English from 1985 to 1993. In 1990, Nowicka co-founded Neutrum, the Association for State Neutrality, an organization focused on the separation of church and state in Polish public life. She was also one of the founders of the Federation for Women and Family Planning in 1991, a

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

which is the alliance of Neutrum and four other organizations. She led the federation as its president for 20 years, from 1991 until 2011 when she resigned having got elected to

. In the 9th term of

she is a

Chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. It may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

of the Parliamentary Committee on National and

Ethnic Minorities The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...

. She is also a founder and a Chair of the Parliamentary Group for

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

Education and teaching activities

She graduated in

at the

. In 1985–1993 she worked as a teacher of

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and English in high schools in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. In 2007–2008, she taught at the University of Rutgers in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

at the Faculty of Women's Affairs and

Gender Studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field n ...

on Reproductive Rights Activism with Focus on

Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a geopolitical term encompassing the countries in Baltic region, Northeast Europe (primarily the Baltic states, Baltics), Central Europe (primarily the Visegrád Group), Eastern Europe, and Southeast Europe (primaril ...

. In 2016–2017 she lectured

at the Institute of Applied Social Sciences (

and Polish Academy of Science) In 2016–18 she studied

bioethics Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biology, me ...

at the

and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

at the Sorbonne in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Political career

Politically, Nowicka has allied herself with various parties, but has remained unaffiliated outside of briefly joining the

Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...

movement in 1980 and 1981. After 1989, she became involved in

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

, cooperating with

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

groups, but remaining independent. Several times she unsuccessfully stood in various parliamentary elections. In 1991, she ran for the

from the list of Labour Solidarity, in 1997 she ran for Senator's seat on behalf of the Labour Union with 190,000 votes. In 1998–2002, she was elected to the first

Masovian Regional Assembly The Masovian Voivodeship Sejmik () is the regional legislature of the Voivodeship of Masovia in Poland. It is a unicameral parliamentary body consisting of fifty-one councillors, making it the largest provincial assembly in the republic. All cou ...

with SLD on the recommendation of the

Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party (, PPS) is a democratic socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most significant parties in Poland from its founding in 1892 until its forced merger with the communist Polish Workers' Party to form ...

(PPS). In the 2011 parliamentary elections, she allied herself with Palikot's Movement, and she won a parliamentary seat, gaining 7065 votes. On 8 November 2011 she was elected

Deputy Speaker Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain ...

of the

for the 7th term. In February 2013 she split with the Palikot's Movement and remained independent member of the

till the end term. She ran with the

Europa Plus Europa Plus () is a Russian commercial radio station. It is owned by the European Media Group and started broadcasting on 30 April 1990 in the Soviet Union. The station primarily plays hot AC and Top 40 music. Europa Plus spans across Russia, ...

coalition to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

in 2014 in

district, and she received 7479 votes (second result), however,

failed to gain any seats in the elections. On 21 February 2015 she announced her participation in the presidential election on behalf of the

Polish Labour Party The Polish Labour Party - August 80 ''(, PPP)'' was a minor left-wing to far-left political party in Poland, describing itself as socialist. It was created on 11 November 2001 as the Alternative – Labour Party () and acquired its new name of P ...

. Her candidacy was also supported by four political parties: the

Polish Left The Polish Left () is a centre-left to left-wing political party in Poland. History The former Prime Minister Leszek Miller announced the formation of the Polish Left on September 20, 2007, because he was not on the list of Left and Democrats. I ...

, the

Social Democracy of Poland The Social Democracy of Poland (, SDPL) is a social-democratic political party in Poland. Foundation The party was founded in April 2004 as a splinter group from the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD). The SDPL should not be confuse ...

and Union of the Left. She collected 91,000 out of 100,000 signatures required to be registered. In 2015 Nowicka ran to Sejm with the United Left coalition in Masovian district. She received 20,503 votes, which did not qualify her for a seat, because the United Left did not pass the 8% threshold required for the coalition of parties. In the 2019 she unsuccessfully ran to the

in Kujawy-Pomerania district with the Spring (Wiosna) party, newly formed by

Robert Biedroń Robert Biedroń (; born 13 April 1976) is a Polish politician, former mayor of Słupsk, and LGBT activist who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. He is the Chair of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equal ...

. She received 21,993 votes. In 2019

parliamentary elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

, running from the first place on the list of the Left alliance in

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

(29th district), she received 25,767 votes, achieving a third place in the constituency and obtaining a seat as a 9th-term MP. In the Sejm, she was elected

of the Committee on National and

. She founded and has been elected as a Chair of the

Parliamentary Group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...

Women's Rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

Activism

Nowicka was a cofounding member of Polish Committee of NGOs – Beijing 1995 which organized active participation of Polish activists in the famous United Nations conference known as Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing (FWCW). The activities included the presentation of NGOs' report on the situation of women in

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 ...

. At this UN conference Nowicka made a well-known ''Statement of Non-Region'' on behalf of women from

. In 1999 Nowicka co-founded and was the first coordinator of ASTRA (Central and Eastern European Women's Network for

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Sexual and reproductive health and rights or ''SRHR'' is the concept of human rights applied to sexuality and Human reproduction, reproduction. It is the recognition of every person’s right to make fully informed and self-determined decisions ...

). From 1995 to 2002 she served as an expert of the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

and a member of its advisory body called Gender Advisory Panel. Wanda Nowicka has been also a member of the Congress of Polish Women and board member of the association Congress of Women which is the operational body of this movement. She spoke on

women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

on numerous occasions at international forums ( UN, EU,

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers ...

CUNY The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

). She wrote numerous reports to the UN and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

on violations of human rights, including

. In 2003, Nowicka invited

Women on Waves Women on Waves (WoW) is a Dutch nongovernmental organization ( NGO) created in 1999 by Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts, in order to bring reproductive health services, particularly non-surgical abortion services and education, to women in coun ...

. Their ship, the ''Langenort'', arrived for two weeks to

Władysławowo Władysławowo (Kashubian language, Kashubian/Pomeranian language, Pomeranian: ''Wiôlgô Wies'' �vʲɞlɡɞ ˈvʲɛs ) is a city on the south coast of the Baltic Sea in Kashubia in the Pomerelia region, northern Poland, with 9,363 inhabitant ...

at the Polish coast to organize together with Polish women's activists, actions to rise awaress about repressiveness of the anti-abortion law in Poland and to provide early

abortions Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnanci ...

in extraterritorial waters. These actions were violently attacked by

extreme right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

groups such as the All-Poland Youth and 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 ...

, who seriously intimidated women in order to stop them from boarding the ship.

Private life

Daughter of Kazimierz Nowicki, former prisoner of German Nazi concentration camps

Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschw ...

and

Buchenwald Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (Old Reich) territori ...

, and Irena Witkowska. Her stepfather was Kazimierz Albin, the former prisoner of

. Her husband was Światoslaw Florian Nowicki, with whom she has three sons: Florian, Michał and Tymoteusz. Florian is a historian and a former politician of the

; Michał is a sociologist and

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

activist; Tymoteusz is a two-time world

kickboxing Kickboxing ( ) is a full-contact hybrid Martial arts, martial art and Boxing (disambiguation), boxing type based on punch (combat), punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, norma ...

champion. She declares her knowledge of classical languages (

) and English,

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and French, as well as the ability to communicate in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Decorations and distinctions

Wanda Nowicka became

Honorary Citizen Honorary citizenship is a status bestowed by a city or other government on a foreign or native individual whom it considers to be especially admirable or otherwise worthy of the distinction. The honor usually is symbolic and does not confer an ...

Spartanburg Spartanburg is a city in and the county seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States. The city had a population of 38,732 as of the 2020 census, making it the 11th-most populous city in the state. The Office of Management and Budg ...

, South Carolina, USA in 1992. In 1994 she was a laureate of the Polish edition of the Woman of Europe competition. In 2000, she received the Rainbow Laurel award. In 2005, she received a £100,000 award from the Sigrid Rausing Foundation for the ASTRA network for outstanding leadership (the award was used to make the film ''Breaking Silence''). In 2008, she won the University-In-Exile Award from New School for Social Research in New York, in recognition of her contribution to the struggle for

and internationally. For active support of international cooperation and chairing the Polish-Greek parliamentary group, the Government of the Hellenic Republic awarded Wanda Nowicka the Order of Honor of the second class at the rank of Grand Commander.

List of publications

* 1994 Nowicka, W. "Two Steps Back: Poland’s New Abortion Law". ''Journal of Women’s History'' 5 (3): 151–55. Johns Hopkins University Press. * 1995 Coliver, S., and Nowicka W.,. "Poland". In ''The Right to Know: Human Rights and Access to Reproductive Health Information''. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 268–284. * 1996 Nowicka, W. "The effects of the anti-abortion law". ''EntreNous'', December 1996, Copenhagen. * 1996 Nowicka, W. "Roman Catholic fundamentalism against women’s reproductive rights in Poland". ''Reproductive Health Matters'', 4(8):21–29. * 1996 Nowicka, W. "Beijing '95 – A Chance That Could be Missed, in Voices of Women, Moving Forward with Dignity and Wholeness". The Fetzer Institute, Kalamazoo. * 1996 Nowicka, W. "More Restrictive in Life than on Paper". ''Conscience'', 17(2) (Summer), Washington. * 1997 Nowicka, W. “Ban on Abortion. Why?” and "Foundation of the Law in Ana’s Land". In ''Sisterhood in Eastern Europe'', ed. Tanya Renne. Westview Press: Division of HarperCollins Publishers. * 1998 Nowicka, W. "Report to UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights" (Situation of Women, esp. Reproductive Health and Rights). Federation for Women and Family Planning, Warsaw. * 1998 Nowicka, W. “Factors Affecting Women’s Health in Eastern and Central Europe with particular emphasis on Infectious Diseases, Mental, Environmental and Reproductive Health". Paper for Expert Meeting on Women and Health, Mainstreaming the Gender Perspective into Health Sector, Tunis. * 1998 Nowicka, W. “Mainstreaming the Gender Perspective into the Health Sector". ENTRE NOUS, WHO, Copenhagen, Winter 1998, No 40-41. * 1999 Nowicka, W. "Shadow Report on Gender Discrimination for the UN Human Rights Committee". Federation for Women and Family Planning, Warsaw. * 1999 Nowicka, W. "Advocating and Monitoring the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action in Poland". ''Development'' 42(1): 84–85. * 1999 Nowicka, W. "Advocating and monitoring the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action in Poland: the benefits of NGO reporting to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights". ''Medical Law Journal'' 18(2–3):295–303. * 2000 Nowicka, W., ed. "The Anti-abortion Law in Poland: Its Functioning, Social Effects and Behaviours Report". Warsaw, Federation for Women and Family Planning. * 2000 Nowicka, W., and E. Zielińska. 2000. "Medical Community’s Perspectives on Abortion". In ''Report of the Federation 2000,'' 1–34
Strona główna
* 2001 Nowicka, W. "Struggles for and against Legal Abortion in Poland". In ''Advocating for Abortion Access'', edited by B. Klugman, and D. Budlender, 226–27. Johannesburg: Women's Health Project. * 2001 Nowicka, W., and F. Girard. "Clear and Compelling Evidence: The Polish Tribunal on Abortion Rights". ''Reproductive Health Matters'' 10 (19): 22–30. * 2002 Nowicka, W. "Shadow Report to UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights". Federation for Women and Family Planning, Warsaw. * 2003 Nowicka, W. "Solidarity over Borders". Report about Women on Waves in Poland, Federation for Women and Family Planning, Warsaw n Polish olidarność kobiet ponad granicami, Kronika wydarzeń Władysławowo 21 czerwca-4 lipca 2003 * 2004 Nowicka, W. "Shadow Report on Gender Discrimination in the area of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights". Prepared for the UN Human Rights Committee. * 2004 Nowicka, W. "Poland – The Struggle for Abortion Rights in Poland". In ''SexPolitics: Reports from the Front Lines'', edited by Richard Parker, Rosalind Petchesky and Robert Sember. Publisher: Sexuality Policy Watch. pp. 167–196. * 2007 Nowicka, W. "Prawa Reprodukcyjne w Polsce eproductive Rights in Poland. in Czarna Księga Kobiet WAB, Warsaw. * 2007 Nowicka, W, and M. Pochec. "Shadow Report on Women in Poland". Prepared for the UN Committee on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women * 2008 Nowicka, W., (ed.) "Reproductive Rights in Poland, Report", Federation for Women and Family Planning, Warsaw. * 2008 "The Anti-Abortion Act in Poland – The Legal and Actual State". In ''Reproductive Rights in Poland: The Effects of the Anti-Abortion Law in Poland,'' ''Report'', Nowicka W. (ed.) 17–44. Warsaw: Federation for Women and Family Planning. * 2011 Nowicka W., ''Polskie zmagania o aborcję'' w ''Drogi Równości'' (red B. Maciejewska, K.Kądziela, Z.Dąbrowska), Fundacja Przestrzenie Dialogu (Gdańsk 2011). * 2011 Nowicka, W. "Sexual and Reproductive Rights and the Human Rights Agenda: Controversial and Contested". ''Reproductive Health Matters'' 19 (38): 119–28. * 2011 Nowicka W., ''Odzyskać ciało, odzyskać godność'' w ''A jak hipokryzja'' (red. Claudia Snochowska-Gonzalez), Wyd. O Matko! (Warszawa 2011). * 2018 Nowicka, W. ''Naruszenie praw reprodukcyjnych jako forma tortur'' w Prawo i Medycyna, Nr 4/2017 pp. 148–168. * 2019 Wanda Nowicka & Anna C. Zielinska, ''Entre l’idéologie et l’économie : les politiques de natalité en Europe Centrale'' in Mouvements des idées et des luttes (Oct. 2019) http://mouvements.info/entre-lideologie-et-leconomie-les-politiques-de-natalite-en-europe-centrale/ * 2019 Nowicka, W. ''Les droits des femmes à l’épreuve du Sacré en Pologne'' in L’Idée Libre, Revue fondée en 1911, La Loi et le Sacré (Dec. 2019), ed. Wafa Tamzini. * 2019 Nowicka, W. Regulska J. Book Chapter “''Repressive Policies and Women's Reproductive Choices in Poland: The Case of State Violence Against Women"'' in ''Women's Journey to Empowerment in the 21st Century'' (eds. Zaleski K., Enrile. A., Weiss E.L., and Wang X., Oxford University Press. (to be out in November)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nowicka, Wanda 1956 births Living people Deputy Marshals of the Sejm of the Third Polish Republic Members of the Polish Sejm 2011–2015 Members of the Polish Sejm 2019–2023 Women members of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland Politicians from Lublin Polish atheists University of Warsaw alumni 21st-century Polish women politicians Polish abortion-rights activists Members of the Polish Sejm 2023–2027