FOR THE SAKE OF FAMILY AND RELIGION. NATIONALIST-RELIGIOUS DISCOURSE ON THE CONVENTION ON PREVENTING AND COMBATING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Abstract

This article focuses on the current wave of the cultural war in Poland which was triggered after the government’s decision to ratify the European Council Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. It examines the conservative, nationalist-religious discourse present in two daily mainstream Polish newspapers, Gazeta Wyborcza and Rzeczpospolita . This article begins with a description of the position of the Catholic Church in Poland, its role and main discursive strategies used in the debate on the Convention. Then it underlines the signi fi cance of the nationalist-religious discourse for developing gender equality policies, focusing on an essentialist vision of feminity and masculinity, importance of the family as a private matter and an in fl uential force and diversion from cultural and structural factors that foster violence.