Dear Ladies,

a hundred years ago, Maria Curie-Skłodowska travelled over the ocean with their daughters to the United States of America in order to ask the Polish community and the American millionaires for funding required for the purchase of a gram of Radium for the Polish Radium Institute newly established in Poland.

She said: “We must be persistent, and believe in ourselves, above all. We must be sure that we have a specific talent”.

Just two years prior, 8 female members of the parliament took seats in the first parliament of Independent Poland. We have thus acted faster, not only than Great Britain, or Germany, but also faster than Switzerland, where equal voting rights in all cantons were introduced only at the beginning of the 70s of the twentieth century.

An entire century has passed since then. A lot has changed. Currently, Polish citizens are members of management boards, lead the government, give lectures at universities, pilot planes. They continue to get Nobel Prizes for their accomplishments.

The appeal of our brilliant compatriot remains relevant – we must remain persistent and believe in ourselves. I also sign up for it, and wish all of you Ladies the same on the occasion of International Women's Day. Pursue your passions, follow your dreams, and be proud of what you have achieved on the path to your goal.

I would also like to wish you only beautiful days and kind people around. I also wish you plenty of health, which is exceptionally necessary today.

 

Minister of Family and Social Policy

Marlena Maląg