Contributed by: Agnieszka Mrozik, Poland National VAW Monitor

On 3 November 2005, the Regulation of the Council of Ministers on Cancellation of the Government Plenipotentiary for Equal Status of Women and Men came into force. Minister Magdalena Sroda, who was the Government Plenipotentiary since August 2004, handed her resignation to the new Prime Minister, Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz. In the aftermath of the parliamentary elections in Poland, which occurred in September 2005, all ministers of former government resigned from their posts.  

After Sroda’s resignation, the authority of the Government Plenipotentiary came within the jurisdiction of Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs.  

On November 17, 2005, Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska* was appointed the new Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the chief of newly created Department for Women, Family and Anti-discrimination.  

According to the Regulation of the Council of Ministers of November 3, 2005, Department for Women, Family and Anti-discrimination, run by Ms. Kluzik-Rostkowska, is responsible for coordination of the activities concerning the social status of women and the family and for realization of the tasks regarding counteraction to any discrimination in all the fields of social, economic and political life, excluding ethnic discrimination (Department of Religions and Ethnic Minorities in the Ministry of Interior and Administration of the Republic of Poland).  

In particular, Department for Women, Family and Antidiscrimination is to:

1). analyze and estimate the legal and social situation of women, the family and the discriminated persons, as well as initiate and coordinate all activities leading to the equal treatment of people who are discriminated in any field of social, economic and political life;

2). work on the policy and law relating to the social status of women and family, as well as anti-discrimination;

3). give its opinion on the government regulations concerning the social situation of women and the family, as well as anti-discrimination;

4). cooperate with proper authorities of public administration and non-governmental organizations and institutions within the scope of their responsibility for carrying out the tasks and programs for women, the family, as well as on anti-discrimination;

5). initiate, carry out, coordinate and monitor the government programs for women and the family, as well as anti-discrimination and equal opportunities;

6). cooperate with international organizations in order to deal with anti-discrimination, including the reports on implementation of international conventions;

7). promote and popularize the issues of anti-discrimination and equal opportunities and carry out information and educational tasks for rising the consciousness of existing discrimination and its manifestations, as well as methods and strategies leading to counteraction to discrimination;

8). work on and carry out the projects financed from the sources of European Social Fund, as part of Priority 1.6. “Vocational Integration and Re-integration of Women” of Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development.

*Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska was born in 1963 in Katowice. She graduated from the Faculty of Journalism and Political Science at the Warsaw University. In 1989 she worked for the political section of the weekly “Solidarnosc.” In 1992 she ran the reportage section in the monthly “Konfrontacje” and the daily “Express Wieczorny.” In 1996, she worked as a journalist in the national and political section of the weekly “Wprost” and in 2000, she ran the economic section in the political weekly “Nowe Panstwo.” From 2001 to 2004, she was a deputy editor-in-chief of the women’s weekly “Przyjaciolka.” In 2004 she advanced to the position of the PR specialist in the public relations bureau of the Warsaw Municipal Council. In 2005 she was promoted to the position of the plenipotentiary for women and family affairs in the bureau of president of Warsaw. 

Compiled from: Department for Women, Family and Anti-discrimination, Ministerstwo Pracy i Polityki Społecznej (last accessed 12 February 2006); translated by Agnieszka Mrozik.