While Poland is often cited as a successful economic reformer in Eastern Europe, it continues to exhibit significant gender disparities in employment conditions and career progression. This paper provides an empirical investigation into gendered institutional and working practices within Telewizja Polska (TVP S.A.), the country’s primary public media broadcaster. Utilizing Joan Acker’s theoretical framework of "inequality regimes," this study examines how power, class, and gender intersect to shape organizational structures, journalistic practices, and career mobility across TVP’s 13 channels and 16 regional branches.

Drawing on qualitative empirical data from 50 in-depth interviews with male and female media professionals across various newsrooms, programs, and occupational tiers, the study critically reassesses macro-level findings from previous literature, including the Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media (2011). Countering traditional cultural narratives—such as the resilient "Matka Polka" (Polish Mother) myth—the findings demonstrate that women in newsrooms actively reject sacrificial, subordinate roles, reflecting broader societal shifts away from traditional patriarchal expectations. However, structural and institutional barriers remain firmly entrenched: formal gender-equality and anti-harassment policies are absent, and a severe glass ceiling persists at the executive management level.

Furthermore, the paper reveals a fundamental institutional dichotomy within TVP S.A., physically and culturally mirrored in its corporate architecture. The organization operates under two distinct "inequality regimes": a hyper-masculine, highly political "ruling class" (the executive "carousel" governed by state political shifts) and a precarious "working class" at the operational and newsroom level. At the operational level, where women are heavily represented, the work culture is marked by growing precarity, temporary contracts, systemic management by fear, and the devaluation of journalistic labor. Ultimately, the paper demonstrates how macro-level political instability and hyper-masculine corporate governance reinforce institutional inequalities, marginalizing media workers and restricting women's access to institutional authority.