Only Good Women can celebrate 8 March. Good to men, children born and unborn, good to the boss, mother, father, the woman in the shop, the official, the president, the police officer, colleague, neighbour, priest, mechanic, plumber, good to the whole world. Submissive, understanding, able to endure everything, grit their teeth and keep silent about every jibe, condescending tone, disregard and stupid joke. Feminine Women will celebrate, because they deserve it!

8 March is for women who are the neck that turns a man’s head. 8 March is for women who have the right to hide their age, the privilege of having their hand kissed, being allowed through doors and having their outerwear handed to them, as well as the inalienable right to the symbol of the Polish Mother. 8 March is for women who have nothing on their minds, no demonstrations and fights for some other rights. What other rights, when they are satisfied?! And let’s not forget the right to flowers. Flowers on 8 March are essential!

"Ladies always occupy the most convenient place and receive the choicest morsels from the table. (...) They have the choice of which side of the bed they wish to lie on, facing forwards or backwards, as they please. A lady’s outfit costs three times as much as a gentleman’s. Men (...) therefore concluded that if there was any inequality or injustice in this matter, it was gentlemen who suffered because of it. Yet they submitted no petitions or protests, apparently considering it necessary to reconcile themselves to their fate".

Who said this? Giertych? No. The Kaczyńskis? Korwin-Mikke? No. Grzegorz Sielatycki, an activist of Młodzież Wszechpolska? No. Some activist of the National-Radical Camp? No. Mr Foote, speaking in 1856 in the parliament of the State of New York, summed up in this way women’s petitions for the right to dispose of their own earnings and the right to vote. But those mentioned above would certainly endorse it.

8 March is for Good Women who, when they feel anger, are said to be menstruating or hysterical. When they want to change something, they ask. When they express an opinion contrary to a man’s, they are guided by feminine logic—that is, they gossip, nag, grumble, whine and constantly find fault. And for the sake of peace and quiet, they fall silent.

Good Women will go to heaven, bad ones wherever they want! Perhaps to the 8 March Manifa in Wrocław? To Good Women and the “others,” we dedicate the words of the Feminine Manifesto of 8 March 2003:

We are free. Let us make use of our freedom! Let us praise the brave women who won freedom for us, and the men who understood and supported them. Together we have achieved much, and we will achieve even more.
(...)
A human being is not a template defined by sex, but an individual, and has the right to their own path.
(...)
Raising and caring for children every day are equally the responsibility of the father and the mother. We know that men are made to care for children—they must not be deprived of this.
(...)
Let us avoid those whose mouths are full of virtue but who care nothing for people’s suffering. Let us follow our own experience; it is the surest guide. Morality has no sex. It is mistaken to believe that women and men have separate duties. (...) Let us say clearly that forcing women to give birth against their will is vile. Laws that force them to do so are the laws of persecutors of children and their parents, because they turn the good of giving birth to a wanted and loved child into the evil of humiliation and hatred. Here is the moral principle: Do not choose suffering for others!
(...)
Let us resist violence, whatever form it takes—physical, psychological, legal or cultural. (...) One of the vile tools of violence is violating human dignity: contempt, disregard, ridicule or condescending treatment. Violence against women is nobody’s “private matter”—it is a crime. Sexual harassment at school, in church or at work is an assault on human dignity. Rape is a crime.
(...)

Let us not postpone equality. Let us not allow the right of women to decide about their own lives to be bartered away.

We simply deserve equality.

Grażyna Ferensowicz

Grażyna Hanaf