Karolina Skowron-Baka is Polish vegan feminist activist and author of the 2025 book Feminizm i Weganizm (Feminism is Veganism). She has been active in the animal advocacy and feminist movements for approximately 20 years, but more recently, has been combining these two efforts: “For a long time I saw them basically as separate struggles, important to me personally but not really related in my activism. […] It took me years to realize […] that the causes themselves are deeply connected.”
For Skowron-Baka, the structural and cultural relationships between the oppression of women and other animals was a gradual realization:
It really struck me […] that the same institutions, the same political actors, often are the ones who oppose both feminists’ and animal rights’ agendas. Also, the perpetrators of violence against women and animals are often the very same people.
Both groups, she notes, are objectified and stripped of agency in popular media. “It’s just not possible that there are so many coincidences. I felt compelled to speak about the connections.”
Skowron-Baka now focuses on creating spaces for dialogue between the feminist and anti-speciesist movements. One of her first initiatives was to create the animal center in the Congress of Women, then Poland’s largest women’s rights organization. Resistance from leaders has been marked, but among the rank-and-file feminists, the reception of the vegan feminist message has been much more positive:
At first the backlash from the feminist leaders was huge, they didn’t want this at all. It took a lot of lobbying over and over again. […] They thought I would be silly, that we would be laughed at, that the media would make fun of the whole event because of this, but finally I managed to make them agree and during the first of the animal center, it had the largest audience of all the centers.
Much of this audience size was due to the animal rights movement’s support, she concedes, but this groundswell allowed the center to continue into the next year. What is more, she was able to secure vegan catering for the entire event that following year. However, this effort was met with extreme resistance and was even sabotaged by one of the Congress of Women organizers who repeatedly replaced the plant milk with cows’ milk during the event.
Once Skowron-Baka stepped back from the organization due to other political disagreements, these monumental vegan achievements were sadly dropped without her being there to maintain them. Nonetheless, while she found that fighting for space for the vegan feminist message is difficult in mainstream feminist spaces at the organizational level, actual receipt of the message was quite favorable among audiences. Vegan feminism received “surprisingly good responses,” she recalls, “they were very open to the idea.”
Skowron-Baka has also seen inroads with the global grassroots Women’s Strike collective which emerged from Poland in response to the increasing restrictions on abortion. Riding the success of this campaign, the Women’s Strike has been seeking to expand into other political issues in feminism, even making some space for fellow animals. Although most consultation groups in the Women’s Strike have prioritized dogs and cats, Skowron-Baka was part of moving this toward a more vegan agenda. In yet another important bridge between feminism and anti-speciesism, Skowron-Baka also founded the Polish chapter of Vegan Lady Boss (a now defunct networking community for women working in various vegan and pro-animal industries). Vegan Lady Boss, when in operation, held regular meetings for knowledge exchange, sisterhood, and collective strength.
Of course, Skowron-Baka’s book Feminizm i Weganizm is another example successful alliance-making. “I never planned to write a book. I’m an activist, not a writer,” she explains, but the dearth of vegan feminist books in Poland (in conjunction with her friend’s encouragement) persuaded her to publish it. “The main goal of the book is to bring feminists on board with animal rights,” she summarizes. Subsequently, the book includes activist experiences as well as theory. Uniquely, she was also able to interview persons involved in masculinized speciesist industries to explore links to sexualized violence. For instance, she examines the sexism in “fur” industries, the proliferation of “hunting” and sex work tourist packages, and the relationship between bloodsport festivals and increased incidents of rape. “I want to make you angry. I want you to change your mind on some issues,” she demands of readers, “this will not be a comfortable book.”
The book has proven quite popular. Not only is it a best seller for the publisher, but it has also encouraged the formation of grassroots vegan feminist activist collectives across the country. Many of the women joining have no prior history with veganism. “I’m hoping we can create lasting shift,” she adds. Mainstream feminists, however, have remained relatively silent, despite having personally collaborated with Skowron-Baka in feminist activism for many years and having received a review copy of the book from the publisher. It is a strategy of silence, she suggests, but silence is better than active disparagement. Perhaps, she reflects, this is a sign of changing politics.
I’m hoping the next wave of feminism will be vegan. That’s my biggest hope. […] it’s impossible to achieve the goals of feminism without doing this as well.
Skowron-Baka can be found on Instagram. Her book can be purchased here. This interview took place on June 2, 2025.