Contributed by: Agnieszka Mrozik, Poland National VAW Monitor

In November 2005, the Polish Bureau of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched the Gender Index project financed from the sources of EQUAL Community Initiative (70 per cent offered by European Social Fund; 25 per cent provided by Government of Poland). The budget of the project amounts to US $2,900,000.

The main purpose of the project is to work against women’s discrimination in the labor market by increasing employers’ awareness and concerns in managing gender equality within companies’ environment.

The Gender Index aims at elaborating an equal treatment indicator relating to the situation of women and men in the workplace. Developed by a group of experts the indicator will be an original and innovative tool of monitoring the women’s situation in the workplace. Every research conducted in companies with the help of this instrument will give an objective and detailed analysis of the way in which an employer formulates and implements his/her gender equality policy. Offering managers a direct and complete insight into their human resources policies from the perspective of gender, Gender Index will help them identify their failures and recent successes as well as advise required enhancements. The constructed methodology will be used to examine the employees’ situation in certain Polish corporations within the structure of national competition for a corporation with the best strategy for women.

The media campaign supporting the project itself will accompany the experts’ work and studies. Sixteen regional debates with local media, NGOs, authorities, and business will be arranged in order to increase social knowledge about women’s discrimination. Furthermore, the employers will be equipped with a good practice guide “Gender Equality in the Workplace” that will enhance gender equality policy in their companies. Finally, special training in the subject will be offered to business partners.

The prospective results of the project are: 1) strong partnership with varied and prestigious institutions developed in order to guarantee an innovative and analytical approach to women’s discrimination in the workplace; and 2) transnational partnership with Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Portugal built up with a common policy concentrated on gender aware management and training strategies on gender equality.

National Partners are Warsaw School of Economics, Polish Confederation of Private Employers, Nordea Poland – Life Insurance Company, Derm-Service Pologne, Feminoteka – Information Center, International Forum for Women.

Transnational Partners are German FrauenComputerZentrumBerlin e.V., Austrian WAFF – Programm Management GmbH, Portuguese Comissão para a Igualdade no Trabalho e no Emprego, and Slovak Centre of Gender studies at Faculty of Philosophy, Comenius University.

The Project will last till December 2007.

More details may be found on www.undp.org.pl

Compiled from: "Gender Index", NGO.pl (last accessed 11 February 2006); translated by Agnieszka Mrozik; "Another Meeting of the Working Group of Steering Global Compact Committee",  Global Compact in Poland (last accessed 11 February 2006); translated by Agnieszka Mrozik; "Project: Gender Index EQUAL Project", UNDP Poland (last accessed 11 February 2006)