Within my paper, I delve into the reality of gender inequality in the Czech Republic, specifically focusing on the division of household chores and childcare responsibilities. Through personal anecdotes and statistical data, I explore the societal norms that create the unequal distribution of domestic work, highlighting the experiences of different women. Additionally, I compare Czech women's stories to those in America and examine the historical context of women's emancipation during the Communist era and its impact on the current state of affairs. By shedding light on these issues, I aim to spark conversations and drive towards a more equitable society.
I hypothesize that despite historical advancements toward women's equality under communism, societal norms in the Czech Republic still lead to an unequal distribution of household chores and childcare responsibilities for women compared to men, when compared to a more modern nation like the United States.
To answer this question, I interviewed five different subjects, two from the United States and three from the Czech Republic, to get many different perspectives of the topic at hand. I also researched and referenced several different academic papers, documents and articles from different Czech and American websites to find statistical data to back up my thesis.
Through my research, I have found that in the Czech Republic, a traditional division of household labor persists. Unlike Pavla Novakova, whose husband helps with chores and childcare, many women shoulder the majority of domestic duties.
“He is a minority, a great exception. People don't even believe me sometimes when I speak about it,” she said. This imbalance creates a significant burden for working mothers.
Novakova works at the Prague University of Business and Economics teaching kids English every weekday. However, this does not mean that her weekends are a relaxing few days; Novakova takes care of her two children and although he helps with household chores, Novakova believes that it is only normal to tend to her husband like one of her own children.
The Czech Republic is at the bottom of the inequality ladder for the percentage of men vs. women who participate in housework and childcare activities in the EU. Although the country has increased by 6 points since 2020, the Czech Republic's ranking was dead last in 2023 with 62.8% of men helping with these chores. This ranking was followed by Lithuania's numbers which hold second 8 points higher than the Czech Republic, according to a 2023 study from the European Institute for Gender Equality. Although this may seem surprising to those from Sweden or Finland, where housework is almost evenly distributed between two parents, women in the Czech Republic have lived like this for decades.
During the communist era of the Czech Republic, the government made an effort to increase women’s emancipation. They did this mostly to create a larger labor force to produce more goods. According to a scholarly document entitled “Gender Inequality Strategy for 2021-2030” and an article entitled “Women, work and equal opportunities in post-Communist transition,” content shows that to get more women to work, the government implemented new equal rights such as legalizing abortion and creating maternity and childcare benefits. This switch, however, made the after-workday work more tiresome for mothers.
Katerina Kebza, the academic manager at the Institute for Study Abroad in Prague says that under communism the people agreed that the country had emancipation and therefore there was equality for all. Kebza explains that after work, however, most women would come home and there would still be a “second shift”.
The second shift is a term used to refer to the household and childcare duties of parents that follow after a day's work in the office. Although the term includes both mother and father, this job usually falls on the back of the mother, especially in the Czech Republic. Kebza admits that this was prevalent within her household growing up and naturally, she fell into the same thing within her own family now.
While Czech women do most of the housework while maintaining full-time jobs, the pay gap between men and women remains considerable. However, many Czech women reject the “victim status” Western feminism places on them due to Czech women still being strong and capable women.
The gender pay gap in the Czech Republic is one of the largest in Europe. In the United States, the gender pay gap is a bit lower. While women in the Czech Republic make on average 77 cents for every dollar a man makes, women in the United States earn 84 cents for every dollar, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
American Kindergarten teacher, Collette Don, explains that she feels she should be getting paid more for the hard work she does with her children. Although many teachers struggle with salary wages, female teachers do more than male. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, an average female teacher earns a yearly salary of $55,490 while a male teacher earns $57,453.
“I am saving up money for medical school and am not going to be out of debt for a very long time at the salary rate I have,” Don said.
Women in the Czech Republic are not only discriminated against through their wages but they also face barriers that limit the positions they can hold within the workplace. Halka Capkova is a teacher at the University of Economics Prague. She explains that during her time in the workplace, she has come to realize that women usually do not move high up within their corporate positions. This is because many men in leading positions assume that women will leave their job in the future to care for a newborn, especially if the applicant is a young woman. This causes the male workers to take the part of most managers and directors, leaving the lower positions to the women of the office.
Capkova explains the theories many job recruiters have; She says it's not only that the woman will leave after some time, but then they come back and have two screaming kids at home who are sick very often and she will then have to stay at home again.
Meanwhile, in America, many women have been able to secure very high positions all while having a family of their own. Annette Zwierchowski was the media director of Leo Burnett Advertising Agency in Chicago when she was 28 years old.
“My coworkers and higher-ups wanted me to stay,” she said, “but I wanted to start a family and be a stay at home mother.”
In America, 47% of women make up managerial positions while in the Czech Republic, only 27% of women do, according to a McKinsey and Company article entitled “Closing the Gender Gap in the Czech Republic.”
Although housework and childcare rights are moving at a slower pace in the Czech Republic, the country has increased its gender inequality gap by 2.3 points since last year according to the European Institute for Gender Equality Index. Researchers believe this is due to the recent improvements for Czech citizens in the domain of money (+5.6 points) and knowledge (+4.4 points).
After conducting this research, I understand that there are some limitations to my work. I only interviewed five people, and therefore represented a small percentage of the Czech and American women population. I also did not get any male perspective. That being said, some of my data could be a bit biased. However, I thought the research that I conducted was thorough and proved a point that gender equality in the Czech Republic is still a work in progress.
In conclusion, my hypothesis was correct; Although Czechia's gender rights and responsibilities have risen in recent years, the country continues to remain significantly lower than the EUs gender equality average, especially in the distribution of household chores and childcare responsibilities. While some find these ways of life to be traditional and as they should be, many continue to strive for equal women's rights at home and in the workplace.