Social Movements and Gender–an Intersectional Perspective: the Women’s Congress and the Movement to Restore the Child Support Fund

The author analyses the identity strategies appearing in women’s social movements in contemporary Poland. She considers the importance of gender in the process of constructing collective identity and how specific gender identity strategies influence their social reception and, in consequence, the success or failure of women’s initiatives as well. The aim of her considerations is to deepen critical reflection on the category of gender in the intersectional perspective, particularly in the context of research into social movements. The analysis includes two examples of women’s mass movements in the last decade: the movement to restore the Child Support Fund and the Women’s Congress. Her conclusions are based on a qualitative analysis of the media discussion, the self-representations of proponents of both initiatives (in publications and online), as well as interviews with their representatives and participants conducted in the years 2009-201