Protest against compulsory medical exams of Polish women workers

Published: Sunday, May 29, 2011

A group of Polish women have launched a petition to protest against the announcement by Ewa Kopacz, Polish Minister for Health, that the government may make gynaecological and breast screenings compulsory for working women.

Compulsory smear tests and other intimate, invasive procedures are to be written into a bill which states that without undergoing periodic examinations, women will be refused permission to work.

According to this policy, smear tests would be performed on women between the ages of 25-59 and breast screenings on women between 50-69.

The bi-annual tests, if implemented, are supposedly to check for cancerous growth, but quite what that has to do with being allowed to work I just don't know.

The petition, on behalf of all working women in Poland, declares that the policy would only serve to undermine women's autonomy and dignity.

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