The aim of this paper was to estimate the gender wage gap in Poland and in the 16 NUTS2 Polish regions in 2010, and to verify the predictions of the spatial monopsony model for Poland with a newly created, harmonized database for wages of individuals in Poland. According to the model, the unexplained part of the gender wage gap, identified with wage discrimination, tend to be lower in regions with more competition between employers.

The results of the analyses performed in this paper show that in more urbanized regions the average wages are higher than in the rural ones. In each of the 16 NUTS2 Polish regions, women earn less than men. Raw differences in wages between men and women are largest in the most urbanized regions but a significant part of the differences in those regions can be explained by differences in workers’ characteristics, especially by different sectoral structure of employment. The part of the gender wage gap which remains unexplained, and in the literature is commonly attached to discrimination, is the highest in rural regions of Eastern Poland in line with the predictions of the spatial monopsony model.

The article presents selected aspects of the life of Cecylia Działyńska against the background of her times, with a focus on the historical and cultural context as well as the specific local conditions, which had a considerable impact on her beliefs and attitude. The analysed source made it possible to reconstruct Cecylia’s convictions concerning her understanding of the nation, patriotism, attitude to the emancipation of women, social roles, faith and the Catholic church, which basically did not differ from the model convictions and behaviours in the public domain which were mandatory in the circles of women from the more enlightened spheres in the Prussian Partition. It was not so with the fulfilment of Cecylia’s ideals. Her deep religiousness, inclination to mysticism, unwillingness to marry, as well as an incurable, chronic disease, all left their mark on her life, preventing Cecylia from adopting the traditional role of a wife and a mother preserving the Polish customs and traditions, and maintaining faithfulness to the national and Catholic values in a family. Despite serious differences between the developing women’s movement in the Prussian Partition, and its equivalent in the Austrian and Russian Partitions, the views and the activity of women in the province of Posen, including Cecylia Działyńska (their rich charitable and educational activity as well as the significant development of female congregations in the second half of the 19th century), should be considered a more traditional, conservative model of the process of the emancipation of women on the Polish soil.