The Cooperation Fund Foundation team warmly congratulates Agnieszka Siekiera, Head of the Equal Opportunities Department, who has been awarded the prestigious “Equality Glasses” award by the Isabella Jaruga-Nowacka Foundation. The awards are given to individuals, organizations, and institutions that demonstrate exceptional commitment to protecting human rights and combating discrimination.
Agnieszka was recognized
“for her work for equality and social justice, and above all, for her personal commitment to helping the homeless woman, Paulina, and her two dogs – from providing first aid to obtaining social housing.” The award recipients included such distinguished figures as Krystyna Janda, Maja Ostaszewska, Ewa Dąbrowska-Szulc, and the Women’s Rights Center and the Federation for Women and Family Planning.
Quoting wiadomosci.ngo.pl:
The “Glasses of Equality” jury awarded the “Glasses of Equality” nominations and awards in the following categories:
Women’s Rights and Combating Gender Discrimination:
Nominations:
1. Krystyna Janda – for proving the importance of one woman’s voice, heard by everyone. For initiating a widespread campaign against the denial of women’s rights, freedom, and dignity.
2. Maja Ostaszewska – for consistently supporting all women’s rights campaigns, actively collecting signatures for the “Save Women” civic project, and for having the courage to oppose contempt and hatred.
3. Marta Abramowicz – for giving voice to those who have been silent for centuries – for her book “Nuns Are Leaving Quietly.”
4. The informal group “March of Dignity” – for awakening those who have previously stood by and failed to act.
5. The informal group “National Women’s Strike” and “International Women’s Strike” – for hearing Krystyna Janda’s voice and effectively organizing and utilizing the potential of civil society to fight for women’s rights.
6. The informal group “Dziewuchy – Dziewuchom” – for effectively organizing all women online, educating themselves, and educating women.
The Equality Glasses in this category are awarded to: Krystyna Janda and Maja Ostaszewska.
Minority rights and combating discrimination on grounds other than gender
Nominations:
1. Łukasz Włodarczyk and his husband Łukasz Ciężadło – the village head of Bobrowniki in the Damnica commune, and his husband – for their openness and active opposition to discrimination against LGBT people in their right to marry. For combating stereotypes and demonstrating that the right to love and be in a relationship is a human right, anywhere and at any time, including in rural Poland.
2. Marzena Frąckowiak and her partner Dorota Walicka – the village head of Grzebieniska and her partner; they are raising their daughter together, breaking taboos and stereotypes, including those about the parochialism and intolerance of rural Poland, are happy, and work for their community.
3. Wola Social Cooperative – for their efforts to promote the professional and social activation of women with disabilities.
4. Dorota Pudzianowska – lawyer at the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights – for creating and managing the “Article 32” anti-discrimination program and defending the rights of all minorities.
5. Krzysztof Śmiszek – for his persistent, consistent, and determined work on behalf of minority rights, and in particular for his personal involvement in the campaign to support breastfeeding in public places.
6. Waga Association – for his work on behalf of older people, and in particular for producing the film “Załomię czerwony spodnie” (I’ll Put on Red Pants) – available on the association’s website at http://www.stowarzyszeniewaga.pl.
7. JCC Jewish Community Center – for working to bring people closer together and wisely overcome barriers – for the campaign of open, shared Sunday breakfasts.
Equality Glasses in this category – both couples: Łukasz Włodarczyk and Łukasz Ciężadło (village head and her husband) and Marzena Frąckowiak and Dorota Walicka (village head and her wife)
Social Justice and Combating Poverty
Nominations:
1. Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw – for its consistent vision of “theater that interferes,” defending freedom of speech and creative freedom, and in particular for the performances: Kuroń, St. Jacek’s Passion, and Klątwa (The Curse).
2. Citizens in Solidarity in Action – for creating a space for civic debate, opposing lawbreaking and the deprivation of society of a voice, supporting the collection of signatures for the “Save Women” project (approximately 10,000 signatures), and supporting all social initiatives by amplifying the voices of citizens through providing amplification.
3. Agnieszka Siekiera – for her work for equality and social justice, and above all, for her personal involvement in helping the homeless woman Paulina and her two dogs – from organizing first aid to obtaining social housing.
4. Doctors of Hope Association – for organizing and running a medical and nursing clinic for the homeless and uninsured since 1991, located at Wolska 172 (throughout the years, the clinic has welcomed and helped thousands of patients).
Equality Glasses in this category: Powszechny Theatre and Agnieszka Siekiera
Super Equality Glasses:
Federation for Women and Family Planning – for 25 years of organizing the fight for reproductive rights, public education, and support for all women’s protests in 2016.
Women’s Rights Center – for 25 years of fighting violence against women, public education on violence against women, steadfastness, and perseverance in all circumstances.
Ewa Dąbrowska-Szulc – for steadfastness, consistency in action, for the ability to remain optimistic in the worst circumstances, for the eternal youth of spirit and the ability to connect generations of women and for being the Great Chronicler of women’s fight for our rights.
