JULIA GERMAN

You are the author of the best diploma dissertation in Lobbying Studies titled: „Women’s Rights in the United States of America. The effectiveness and importance of grass-roots lobbying.”. Why did you choose this subject?
I have been interested in women’s’ rights for years. It is a subject close to my heart and my way of looking at the world. I believe that a feminist viewpoint is very important in looking at the issues affecting our lives. History written exclusively by men will all too easily become filled with half-truths or will be, at least, incomplete. Women themselves must look after their own interests, their image and place in history.

Did you become interested in American women because the USA leads in lobbying?
Before enrolling on Collegium Civitas’s course on lobbying, I was a student of American studies at the University of Warsaw. There, I started reading my first books on lobbying, which is presented as a fundamental aspect of democracy. So, I was already aware of the issue of lobbying in American democracy.

When did American women start to appreciate the power and role of lobbying in the fight for their rights?
The beginning coincided with the first wave of American feminism in the 19th century, when the suffragettes started cooperating with the leaders of the abolitionist movement to liberate black people and to increase women’s’ rights. Thanks to the suffragettes, women received the right to vote in America in 1920. This was a breakthrough in the organisation and articulation of feminist aspirations. The second wave of feminism happened in the 1960s and 1970s. Then, many more demands appeared, amongst them: the abolition of discrimination at work, the easing of access to university education, and the guaranteeing of professional advancement. However, today’s American feminism seems to have been pieced together from the anti-war and the anti-homophobia movements. It is a multicultural phenomenon in which people of different races take part, demanding and equality of treatment. Such objectives were not a significant part of the first and second waves of feminism.

What are American women fighting for, these days? Have they decided to rest on their laurels?
No, but they have other priorities. Let us consider, as examples, the organisations Code Pink or Women for Peace, which lobbies for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. That organisation is also very active in trying to change parents’ and manufacturers’ mentality, so that children’s toys won’t have a military character. They want to prevent the manufacturing of toys which encourage playing at war and killing, because that form of play stimulates aggression in children.

Do American women still have a standard-bearing lobbyist?
In the feminism’s first and second waves having a star leader was very important. So, in the first wave the leading figures were such people as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. The latter was an irrepressible character: even before women had gained the right to vote, she once went to the polling station in Rochester in New York State and attempted to cast a vote. Later she was brought before a court, but was prevented from speaking. In the second wave of feminism, the brightest stars were Gloria Steinen and Betty Fridan, an author of feminist books. However, in today’s feminism having a celebrity is no longer important in America. Women are supported in their struggle, these days, by a significant portion of men, and they value actual activism much more than self-promotion. This is what the third wave of American feminism is focusing on.

What could Polish women learn from their American colleagues?
Women’s rights activists in Poland are very active. We see them every year during the “Manifa” demonstrations organised by the 8th March Women’s Alliance. However, it is still worth learning about activism from American women: about how to develop initiatives, how to get organised and how to act together. They know that they are a force and that their lobbying carries weight with decision makers.

Would you like to work as a lobbyist?
Yes, but not in Poland. I am very interested in the issue of advocacy on behalf of organisations like Human Rights Watch, which are involved in finding information and analysing it. Their activity concerns human rights, and the rights of women, children and political prisoners. I am also interested in academic work and I hope I will be able to combine these two interests.