Granting women their rights
In 1918 Poland regained independence. The reborn state intended to take a very modern approach. Women gained suffrage, both the right to vote and to stand for election for the parliament. They were also allowed to study at all levels of education. Women’s rights were an important part of the Second Polish Republic’s founding myth.
There were eight women in Poland’s first parliament. More and more women were admitted to universities. Female scientists, who up till now had been pursuing their careers abroad, began to return to Polish universities. They received further academic degrees here. The first post-doctoral degree in the Second Polish Republic was awarded to woman in 1920. It was conferred on Helena Gajewska by the Jagiellonian University. That same year another woman, Ludwika Dobrzyńska-Rybicka, was also awarded a post-doctoral degree. In Poznań the first post-doctoral degree for a woman was conferred on Michalina Stefanowska.
