Collegium Carolinum,
the German Historical Institute Warsaw (DHIW),
the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO),
in cooperation with the Faculty of Arts, Charles University,
cordially invite you to the third lecture of the Prague Histories Forum in the winter semester 2026/27:
ASSOC. PROF. NATALIA JARSKA (INSTITUTE OF HISTORY, POLISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, WARSAW)
Has the “Woman Question” Been Solved under State Socialism? The State, Women’s Emancipation, and Critical Knowledge Production in Post-War Poland
Tuesday, 24 November 2026, 15:50–17:20
Faculty of Arts, Charles University
Špork Palace, Hybernská 3, Prague 1
Room 303, attic floor
The lecture will also be available online via Zoom. Please register using the following link: https://maxweberstiftung.zoom-x.de/meeting/register/yq0DKEQFRjS4TW3N2dNDeA
State-socialist emancipation policies presented women’s employment as a foundation for equality. How did women’s experiences and the research conducted by women experts complicate this official account?
Natalia Jarska examines knowledge production on women’s lives in post-war Poland from the 1950s to the 1980s. Drawing on research based on interviews, memoirs, and large-scale surveys, the lecture explores how women experts documented the limits of the emancipatory agenda through the intersecting dimensions of gender and class. Working within and beyond state institutions, these experts challenged official narratives and articulated women’s aspirations. Their research and activism invite a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between state socialism, expertise, and gender equality.
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Natalia Jarska is a historian and Associate Professor at the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Her research focuses on women’s and gender history, labour history, and the history of sexuality in post-war Poland. She is co-Principal Investigator of FemEx, a project on women experts and feminist knowledge production in post-war East Central Europe.
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