Work and employment
Career family equal opportunities: studies on women and men in the Czech labour market
Women and men in the Czech labour market
Authors:
V Kuchařová; S Jurajda; D. Münich
Publisher:
Gender Studies, o.p.s., 2007
This document provides the results of three studies concerning the position of women and men in the Czech labour market. The first paper is a summary of qualitative and quantitative studies find out the possibilities parents have in juggling childcare and work responsibilities and the potential constraints or sources of discrimination that can make the parents’ situation difficult. They looked at the issue from both the mothers’ perspective and that of the employers. The main focus was on finding out to what extent the parents draw their sick child leave and claim their maternity/parental leave entitlement, which are the basic measures enabling parents to balance their personal and professional lives. One of the main findings is the fact that the facilities allowing people to balance their personal and professional lives are used much less in the Czech Republic than in the vast majority of western countries.
The second paper focuses on issues of identifying the differing position of women and men in the labour market, in particular against the backdrop of a price difference analysis. This research is not a sociologic analysis, but an economic analysis. It exploits data on results describing interactions between employees and employers and deriving the sources of the gender gap from them. The third paper considers what HR managers need with a view to developing equal opportunities for women and men within the company HR management policies, and asks what are the constraints and options in this respect. All three analyses provided results pointing to the unequal position of women and men in today’s Czech labour market. They show that it is crucial to introduce schemes that will encourage equal opportunities of women and men and bridge the existing gaps between men and women. Promoting equal opportunities of women and men is not only a feature of a democratic society responding to the needs of all citizens, but also a characteristic of a mature company culture, appreciating the input of the employees and trying to set up the best conditions for their work performance.
