POLAND: Decision to allow women to work under ground sparks criticism among male miners

Polish women now have the opportunity to become miners if they so choose, after Poland withdrew from a 1935 treaty which previously banned women from working underground. The recent change was made in accordance to European Union law, but the mining community in the Silesia region feels the law doesn't reflect reality. "I haven't been underground for twelve years. I wouldn't want to, it's a hard and responsible job. I'm not good for it," said Dorota Wycislo, a lift operator in the Boleslaw Smialy coal mine. "Women wouldn't be able to work underground. It's typically a mans job," said her colleague Janina Tlolka. Most women working at the mines are engineers, surveyors or generally hold positions which doesn't require them to work in the harsh conditions found in the underground tunnels. Miners who work on the coal face are surprised at the European Union law allowing women to work alongside them. "It's absurd for women to work underground; illogical and abnormal. It's tough down there. The decision to allow women to work underground is the biggest nonsense imaginable. This lady (Labour Minister Anna Kalata) should go underground and see for herself what it's like," said miner Szymon Kaczor. Under-secretary in the Employment Ministry Kazimierz Kuberski, argues that there is nothing wrong with allowing women to work underground as long as it doesn't damage their health. "We know that women have taken over activities which had usually been reserved for men. They serve in the police and fire brigades. So, if they want to work underground, they can't be forced to, but we will make it possible for them if they insist," Kuberski says. Historically, women worked underground in post war Poland in violation of the 1935 treaty, and the harsh conditions led to dramatic loss of health and life threatening accidents. Work on the coal face requires miners to crawl in tunnels as low as a few feet, amongst fumes and coal dust which emerges from digging into the rock. Miners also have to carry wooden logs to reinforce tunnels and prevent the constant pressure to shrink or cave in the mine shafts. Breathing inside the tunnels is severely impaired due to the low oxygen levels, heat and ever-present coal dust. In fact, conditions are so harsh that miners are allowed to retire after 25 years of working underground.

ITN Source | March 19, 2007

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