ABSTRACT
The 1952 Constitution contained a range of provisions concerning citizen rights and freedoms, including a provision concerning the equality of women and men. The area of professional work and pay probably comprises the most distinctive area, in which it is easy to find examples both of open and hidden discrimination, inconsistent with the constitutional principle of sexual equality. The Ombudsperson agreed that the rule violated the constitutional protection of equality of rights, regardless of gender. More controversial example of unequal treatment concerns the already-mentioned “listing of work prohibited to women”. Women belonging to groups which were well-equipped to deal with legal regulations noticed the danger very early on. Research has shown that women in Poland are conscious of discrimination, especially in the job market. The new Constitution does not refer to man as the model for woman and drafted in a more “equal” form, providing that “women and men” possess equal rights.
