Market Economy and Consumer Rights: The Impact on Women's Everyday Lives and Employment

The transition from totalitarianism to democracy and freedom (and a free market as one of the elements of that freedom) has changed everyday life in Poland. Some changes have affected women rather than men. In some respects, the introduction of a market economy has changed women's life for the better for example as consumers. Women no longer waste many hours each day queuing. In other areas, the changes have led to a deterioration of women's situation and threaten their status in society, such as disproportional unemployment of women, lower rates of participation in the privatization process and loss of certain social services. In other respects the changes have simply done away with the communist myth of gender equality such as the extent of women's participation in politics, executive posts held by women, equal pay, etc. Finally, in some spheres the current changes have not had any impact on women's situation: violence against women, for instance, is still a taboo subject. Changes in many spheres are still necessary in Poland: in legal regulations, in the level of activity of women's organizations, in the social consciousness of both men and women, to mention a few. Without these changes, women's situation cannot be improved.