16 Tons

In May, the Polish government will revoke an international convention prohibiting women from working as coal miners. The unions are appalled.

The employing of women as coal miners is prohibited by the 45th International Labor Organization Convention from 1935. The reasons: high air pressure and constant threat to human life.

In February 2005, however, the European Tribunal of Justice decided the convention was outdated and urged the member states to revoke it.

Union leaders don't even want to hear about women miners, arguing no woman would cope with the hard work involved. 'There's no place for horses in the galleries, let alone for women', Dominik Kolorz, head of Solidarity's mining section, said jokingly.

Few remember, however, that until 1958 women were allowed to work at the coalface. Only when a woman miner had an accident and lost her hand did Poland ratify the ILO convention and introduces the ban.