Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka

Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka
Born	Izabela Walentyna Jaruga-Nowacka (1950-08-23) 23 August 1950 Gdańsk, Poland
Died	10 April 2010(2010-04-10) (aged 59) Near Smolensk, Russia
Occupation	Politician
Years active	1993–2010
Known for	Deputy Prime Minister of Poland (2004–2005); Minister of Social Policy (2004–2005); member of the Sejm

Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka

Izabela Walentyna Jaruga-Nowacka [izaˈbɛla jaˈruɡa nɔˈvat͡ska] (23 August 1950 – 10 April 2010) was a prominent Polish politician who served multiple terms in the national legislature (Sejm) beginning in 1993, with a break between 1997 and 2001. In May 2004, she was appointed Deputy Prime Minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Marek Belka, a role she held until October 2005. Concurrently, from November 2004 to October 2005, she also fulfilled the duties of Minister of Social Policy.

Born in Gdańsk, the principal city of the Pomeranian Voivodeship located on the Baltic Sea, Jaruga-Nowacka graduated with a degree in ethnography from the University of Warsaw. During the 1970s and 1980s, her professional career included positions at the Institute for Science Policy and Higher Education (1974–1976) and at the Institute of Socialist Nations within the Polish Academy of Sciences (1976–1986). Although she did not engage in political activities during Poland’s Communist era, she joined the League of Polish Women in the mid-1980s as that period drew to a close. By 1991, she became involved with the Ruch Demokratyczno-Społeczny (Democratic-Popular Movement), and in the parliamentary elections of 1993, she secured a seat in the Sejm representing the Labor Union party.

A committed advocate for women's rights and equality, Jaruga-Nowacka served as a member of the Sejm during several terms: 1993–1997, 2001–2005, and 2005–2007. She was re-elected for a fourth term in October 2007, running under the banner of the newly formed Left and Democrats coalition.

She was married to Jerzy Nowacki, a mathematician who held the position of rector at the Polish-Japanese Institute of Information Technology based in Warsaw. Together they had two daughters: Barbara and Katarzyna.

Jaruga-Nowacka was among those listed on board the Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft operated by the 36th Special Aviation Regiment that tragically crashed near Smolensk-North airport close to Pechersk, near Smolensk, Russia, on 10 April 2010. The crash claimed the lives of all passengers, including Polish President Lech Kaczyński.

Following her death, on 16 April 2010, she was honored posthumously with the Commander's Cross with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta.

External links

Media related to Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website of Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka
• Profile of Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka on the Sejm portal (featuring declarations of interest, voting history, and speech transcripts)