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Katarzyna Kotula
Katarzyna Kotula
	Kotula in 2022
Minister for Equality
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 13 December 2023
Prime Minister	Donald Tusk
Preceded by	office established
Member of the Sejm
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 12 November 2019
Constituency	Gdańsk (2023–present); Szczecin (2019–2023);
Personal details
Born	Katarzyna Agata Kotula; 1 February 1977 (age 47); Gryfino, Poland
Political party	New Left (2021–present); Spring (2019–2021);
Education	Adam Mickiewicz University
Occupation	Politician; teacher; social activist;

Katarzyna Agata Kotula (born 1 February 1977) is a Polish politician, teacher, and social activist. Since 2019, she is a member of Sejm of Poland, and since 2023, she holds the office of the Minister of Equality. She is a member of the New Left party, and one of the leaders of the All-Poland Women's Strike movement.

Biography

Katarzyna Kotula was born on 1 February 1977 in Gryfino, Poland.^[1] Her father moved to Berlin in 1980, with the rest of the family following him later on. She returned to Poland with her mother and brother in 1986. Years later, her family moved back to Germany.^[2]

As a child, she played tennis, and by the age of 13, she began training in the club Energetyk Gryfino. As stated in 2022, there she was sexually molested by her trainer, Mirosław Skrzypczyński, member and future chairperson of the Polish Tennis Association.^[3] Later, for a few years Kotula has lived in Utah, United States, where she attended highschool, and was hosted by a local family.^[2]

In 2016, Kotula had graduated from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland, with a master's degree in English studies. For about 20 years, she was a teacher and an owner of a private schoold of English in Gryfino.^[4] She was also a teacher in a public school.^[5]

She has participated in the Women's Congress, political and social movement for women's rights, and took part in the founding of the Jesteśmy social committee of the caretakes of disabled people.^[6]^[7] Kotula is one of the leaders of the All-Poland Women's Strike movement, and its activist in Grifino.^[8] She is also a member of the association Spójnik.^[9]

In 2019, she was involved in the formation of the Spring left-wing party, and became its local coordinator in Grifino.^[4] She has unsuccessfully candidated in the 2019 European Parliament elections from the Lubusz and West Pomeranian constituency, in which she had received 3,143 votes.^[10]

In the 2019 parliamentary election, Kotula had successfully candidated to be a member of the Sejm of Poland. She run from the mandate of the Democratic Left Alliance in the constituency no. 41 consisting of the western portion of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. She had received 7,557 votes.^[11] She became deputy chairperson of the Commission of the Member of Parliament Matters and Immunity, and a member of the Commission of Social and Family Politics.^[1] In October 2020, she became spokesperson of the Spring.^[12] In June 2021, her party was incorporated into then-established New Left, and in November of that year, she became the co-chairperson of the party division in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship.^[13] She was re-elected for the Sejm in the 2023 election, this time running from the constituency no. 25 consisting of the eastern portion of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. She had received 33,122 votes.^[14] She became chairperson of the Commission of Social and Family Politics.^[15]

On 12 December 2023, Prime Minister Donald Tusk had nominated her to the office of the Minister for Equality.^[16] She was appointed the next day by President Andrzej Duda.^[17] In January 2024, she became member of the Social Dialogue Council.^[18]