The first governmental commitment to gender mainstreaming in Poland was made in the National Action Plan for Women (NAP) 1997 – 2000. Due to a political shift in the 1997 election, the NAP was not implemented. The second National Action Plan for Women (2003–2005) was successfully launched with the aim to mainstream gender equality into government policies at all levels, thanks to the efforts of the Governmental Plenipotentiary for the Equal Status of Men and Women, established in 2001.
About
Stuctures
The Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Treatment was established in 2008 and is a non-ministerial equal treatment agency, integrated within the structures of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister but headed by a Secretary of state. It aims to promote the equal treatment of all persons without discrimination based on gender or other grounds. It filled the institutional vacuum left after the dissolution, in 2005, of the Governmental Plenipotentiary for the Equal Status of Men and Women. Some ministries have units dedicated specifically to gender-equality issues (i.e.
Laws and Policies
There is no national law specifically dedicated to gender equality in Poland. The law addressing the issue is the Equal Treatment Act of 2010, which merely includes gender among the forms of discrimination, or the act implementing certain EU provisions on equal treatment.
Methods & Tools
The EU is the driver of gender mainstreaming in Poland. Certain gender-mainstreaming methods are applied almost exclusively within programmes implemented with the support of EU funding.
