The letter versus the spirit: Barriers to meaningful implementation of gender equality policy in Poland

SynopsisSince the United Nations Conference on Women in Nairobi in 1985, gender equality has been an important element of the European social agenda. Yet, 23 years later, despite the fact that all European Union (EU) member states have adopted a legal framework addressing issues of gender equality, there is little evidence that this regime has been implemented successfully anywhere within the EU. By investigating public and official discourses in Poland surrounding gender equality, I seek to understand why the gender equality agenda has been difficult to implement meaningfully in Poland. Rather than claiming this as “Polish exceptionalism,” I suggest that conflict amongst factions within Poland, as well as between Poland and the EU, over the transposition and implementation of the international gender equality agenda is emblematic of the ways in which integration can succeed formally, but fail substantively, highlighting the need for further theorizing the cultural dimensions of European integration.