Non-Feminist Women’s Groups
The Brahma Kumaris Movement
By Agnieszka KościańskaEnglish
Why is there no feminism after socialism in Poland ? I explore this issue through ethnographic fieldwork conducted among Polish converts from Catholicism to a feminized new religious movement. Reasons of conversion include dissatisfaction of gender relations. Instead of becoming feminists, the women are committed to strict ascetic discipline and the conversion totally reorganize their social relations. I focus on their agency and point out their (non-liberal) concepts of women’s empowerment.
Keywords
- agency
- gender
- religious conversion
- feminism
- Poland