Processes and phenomenons that appear within world economy result in the increase of competition on lots of markets, including the food markets. This competition is won by the entities, sectors and countries that possess the advantages which create their competitiveness. Different types of food producers’ competitive advantages may be identified. Mostly pointed out are price advantages and quality advantages. The aim of this paper is to identify the sources of competitive advantages of Polish food producers on the European Union market that appeared within the period 2004–2016. The analysis covered 26 groups of products which were selected according to their significance for Polish agri-food export. The long-term observation let the Authors identify the dominating strategies of competing which were implemented by Polish food producers on the European Union market. Analysis was conducted with the Aiginger’s price-quality approach and was based on the data available within Eurostat Comext database.

The theoretical part of the paper presents conclusions from the literature review. The empirical part of the paper includes findings of the research carried out by the authors. Amending the human capital definition, based on the new approach from the perspective of equal opportunities, mainly for women, was the main aim and added value of the paper. Based on the previous research, authors hypothesized that the equality of opportunities in the labour market, social life, education and public life generates economic benefits, while the lack of such equality causes losses. To prove that the equality of opportunities enhances the value of human capital, the authors carried out their own research and referred to the findings of other empirical studies, data from the Central Statistical Office, Eurostat and expert opinions from such institutions as the European Institute for Equality of Women and Men in Vilnius (EIGE) and the World Economic Forum, OECD.

The aim of the research is to assess the financial situation of farm households in Poland in 2010–2017.The analysis of household finances, i.e. the value and structure of income as well as the method of their distribution, was performed. Despite a significant improvement in the living conditions of this group of people, the financial situation of farmers’ families was worse than of those who have other sources of income. Disposable income in households of farmers per person per month in 2017 amounted to PLN 1575.57 and was as much as PLN 420 higher than in the previous year. The ratio of the share of expenditure on food in total expenditure in 2017 was 31%. Aggregated data from studies of household budgets published annually by the Central Statistical Office constituted the basis of the information used as the sources and own surveys carried out in 2017 in 302 farmers households located in the Masovian Voivodeship.

Streszczenie. Praca dotyczy roli samozaopatrzenia w konsumpcji dóbr i usług przez wiejskie gospodarstwa domowe. Zaprezentowano wyniki badań empirycznych przeprowadzonych za pomocą kwestionariusza wywiadu w wybranej losowo populacji 1000 gospodarstw domowych na obszarach wiejskich Mazowsza. Rola samozaopatrzenia w żywność i usługi okazała się dla tych gospodarstw na tyle istotna, że zbadano i potwierdzono zależności między stopniem samozaopatrzenia gospodarstw domowych a poziomem ich dochodów, faktem użytkowania i rozmiarami gospodarstwa rolnego oraz liczbą osób w gospodarstwie domowym. Słowa kluczowe: samozaopatrzenie • gospodarstwa domowe • obszary wiejskie • MazowszeAbstract. The study concerns the role of self-supply in the consumption of goods and services by rural households. The first part of the paper presents the results of a survey conducted on a sample of 1000 households located in the rural areas of Mazovia. Since the role of self-supply with food and services turned out to be really important to those households, the relationships were investigated and confirmed between the degree of the households' self-supply and the level of their income, the fact of running a farm, the size of the farm, and the number of person in a household.

Streszczenie. W artykule ukazano zróżnicowanie na polskim i europejskim rynku pracy z perspektywy równości szans populacji kobiet. Omówiono ekonomiczny kontekst polityki równościowej. Zaprezentowano mierniki określające zróżnicowanie sytuacji dochodowej według płci. Przedstawione wyniki badań potwierdziły słabszą pozycję kobiet, bowiem tę grupę na rynku pracy wyróżnia niższy wskaźnik zatrudnienia i wyższa stopa bezrobocia. Niedostateczny jest także udział kobiet w gremiach decyzyjnych, ciałach przedstawicielskich zarówno w biznesie, jak i w polityce, w życiu publicznym. Innym obszarem porów-nań były płace i wynagrodzenia. Dane statystyczne potwierdzają, że zarówno w Polsce, jak i w krajach europejskich utrzymują się istotne różnice w zarobkach kobiet i mężczyzn (ang. gender pay gap). Na podstawie porównań według sumarycznego wskaźnika równości płci (GII) zauważa się wyraźne dysproporcje między krajami rozwiniętymi, w tym pań-stwami skandynawskimi, państwami śródziemnomorskimi, a krajami Europy Środkowo--Wschodniej. Słowa kluczowe: równość szans • rynek pracy • luka płacowa (GPG) • indeks nierówno-ści (GII)Abstract. In the article was shown diversification on the Polish and European labor market from the perspective of equal opportunities populations women. There was discussed the economic context of equal chances policy. There were presented measures specifying the diversity of the income situation by gender. The research results confirmed the weaker position of women because this group in the labor market is distinguished by a lower employment rate, the higher unemployment rate. Insufficient is also the participation of women in decision-making bodies, representative bodies both in business and in politics, in public life. Another area of the comparisons were wages and salaries. Statistical data confirmed that both in Poland and in the European countries remain substantial differ-