The Impact of Morally Injurious Events on the Dynamics of Mobilization for Women’s Rights in Poland

Abstract

Why did the registration of the Gals for Gals name as a trademark and the publication of the Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling stop the largest protest movements for women’s rights in democratic Poland despite unaccomplished goals? What was the source of the 2018 and 2021 demobilization acts and subsequent waves of non-mobilization? Drawing on the theory of moral injury and narrative research methodology, this article aims to account for the determinants of the Gals for Gals’ and the All-Poland Women’s Strike’s demobilization and the lack of mobilization. The main argument is that during the fight for women’s rights, a part of Polish society involved in civic activity experienced two severe traumas. Each of the two waves of mobilization ended in a moral injury development. In both cases, a moral injury involved the loss of trust in self and others. Moreover, in both cases, the moral injuries were so severe that they turned out long-lasting. At the stage of the cognitive dissonance, there were no attempts to resolve it. In other words, activists did nothing to prevent cognitive dissonance from turning into a moral injury. In the first case, it may indicate the organizational and emotional immaturity of activists. In turn, the second case may indicate the weakening of civil society, building Poland’s political culture of withdrawal and submission.