Gender Equality in the Czech Republic

Strengthening Government Capacity for Gender-sensitive and Inclusive Recovery

Report

29 May 2023

2. A comparative overview of gender equality outcomes in the Czech Republic

Abstract

While the Czech Republic has made progress in advancing gender equality, gender gaps persist in areas such as education, employment, entrepreneurship and public life. Gender-based violence and stereotypes also remain a concern. This chapter assesses the current state of gender equality in the country, including trends over time and how it ranks on key international indices compared with other OECD countries and its regional peers. It also discusses the importance of strengthening institutions and capacities for gender mainstreaming to promote inclusive recovery, economic growth, and national well-being.

2.1. Introduction

This chapter assesses the current situation in the Czech Republic with regard to key gender equality outcomes, highlighting how it compares with the situation in other OECD countries The information and analysis are mainly based on desk research, data extracted from OECD and other international databases, consultations in the form of individual or group interviews with government stakeholders, and insights that emerged from a focus group with non-government actors in the Czech Republic. The gap analysis is also complemented with some targeted policy reflections focusing on cases where the gender gaps are considerable.

Despite improvements, participation in tertiary education remains low for both women and men in the Czech Republic but with wide gender gaps. Gender disparities persist in educational choices, leading to segregation in fields of study, with women under-represented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields and over-represented in fields such as education, arts and humanities, health, and welfare (Czech Statistical Office, 2022[1]).

The Czech Republic has made major progress in male and female employment rates, but the gender employment gap remains high. While education plays a relatively small role, this gap fluctuates sharply across age groups (sub-section 2.4). In particular, gender employment gaps are wider among parents – especially for mothers of very young children (aged 0-2) – than among persons without children. This “motherhood penalty” results in important disadvantages in terms of wage and career progression over the women’s lifetime and is also reflected in differences in average old age pensions for men and women and in the higher risk of poverty in old age for women. This chapter provides policy reflections on how to close the gender employment gap, especially for mothers with young children, for instance through work-life balance measures.

Public spending on families in the Czech Republic is higher than the OECD average and includes generous family benefits (mostly in the form of cash benefits) and long parental leaves (until the child reaches the age of three). The limited availability of childcare places together with fairly traditional attitudes on gender roles (relative to the OECD overall) result in scarce participation of very young children in childcare, with mothers staying out of the labour market for a long time after childbirth. More generally, persistent gender stereotypes and social norms remain at the root of gender inequalities in the economy and society overall.

Labour market segregation and gender earning gaps persist due in part to the fact that women make up a relatively low share of managers in the Czech Republic and few of them reach the highest positions. Gender gaps in public life are even larger, with women struggling to access leadership positions, as evidenced by the relatively small share of women in parliament and in supreme courts.

Women continue to be less likely than men to create a business or to be working on a new start-up, to operate an established business, or to be self-employed. However, an overview of entrepreneurship policies through a gender lens suggests that women’s self-employment and motivation are increasing. This increase is particularly strong among women with young children and those of pre-retirement age.

Violence against women is a significant issue in the country and apparently seen as such by a majority of the population. A rise in intimate partner violence among young people and adolescents is among the serious problems related to gender-based violence in the Czech Republic (Office of the Government of the Czech Republic, 2021[2]).

2.2. The Czech Republic according to key international gender equality indices

Although gender equality in the Czech Republic is improving slowly, disparities between men and women in its society and economy persist. Various cross-country indices allowing for international comparisons rank the country lower than other OECD and European Union (EU) countries in different areas such as gender equality in public and private leadership and in the division of household tasks. This section presents data from three different indices covering the gender dimension as well as comparisons among the Visegrád Group of countries. Overall, these indices show limited improvements in terms of gender equality over the years.

2.2.1. The Social Institution and Gender Index

The OECD Social Institution and Gender Index (SIGI) is a global index assessing gender equality in four areas: discrimination in the family, restrictions on physical integrity, limited access to resources and limited civil liberties (OECD, 2019[3]). It evaluates the level of inequality in a country on a scale of 0 to 100%, with 0% indicating the absence of any inequality.

In the 2019 edition of the index, the Czech Republic scored 19.8%, ranking 33rd out of 120 countries, and is categorised as having very low levels of inequality (OECD, 2019[3]). However, among the 29 OECD countries assessed, its performance is ranked the eighth poorest. The SIGI identified high inequality in the Czech Republic emerging from discrimination in the family, particularly towards working mothers, as well as restricted civil liberties, violence against women and a gender gap in feelings of security. The index also points to the lack of female representation in politics and corporate governance.

Apart from Hungary, which is categorised as having a low level of inequality, all other countries from the Visegrád Group (the Czech Republic, Poland and the Slovak Republic) have very low levels of inequality, according to this index.

2.2.2. The Gender Equality Index

The Gender Equality Index (GEI) of the European Institute for Gender Equality provides a comprehensive assessment of gender equality in the EU across six areas: work, money, knowledge, time, power and health (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2021[4]). Assessments are scored on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 indicating full gender equality.

The Czech Republic has consistently scored below the EU average on the GEI and ranks among the poorest-performing countries. The 2022 GEI ranked the Czech Republic 23rd out of 27 EU member states, with a score of 57.2 compared to an EU average of 68. The country ranks lower than the EU average across all six areas assessed, with the scores for health (21st of the 27), work (24th), money (15th) and knowledge (14th) falling slightly below the EU averages by about four score points. The low rank is likely due to particularly poor performance in the area of power, which measures women’s representation in political and economic decision-making positions; in this area, the Czech Republic is assigned a score of 29.7 versus the EU average of 57.2, putting it in 25th place among the 27. The Czech Republic also scored poorly (57.3 versus the EU average of 64.9) in the area of time due to unequal distribution of care and housework, placing it 17th. Since 2010, the Czech Republic’s scores on the GEI have ranged between 55 and 57.2, with a dip in 2017 to 53.6, which suggests that development in gender equality is stagnating in the country.

Among the other Visegrád countries, the Czech Republic ranks second in the overall GEI after Poland (57.7) and Slovak Republic (56), with Hungary being the lowest-ranked country (54.2).

2.2.3. The Global Gender Gap Index

The Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) computed by the World Economic Forum concentrates on gender equality in health, education, economic opportunities and political empowerment. Countries are assigned scores ranging from 0 to 1, with 1 indicating full gender equality. The Czech Republic scored 0.711 on the 2021 edition of the GGGI, having increased only by 0.03 since 2010 (World Economic Forum, 2021[5]). Of the OECD countries assessed, only five (Greece, Hungary, Japan, Korea and the Republic of Türkiye) ranked lower than the Czech Republic. A likely explanation is that apart from improvement in women’s political empowerment (from 0.088 in 2006 to 0.203 in 2021), large gains have not been made in other facets of gender equality. The Czech Republic ranks lowest in the area of economic participation and opportunity (91st out of 156) due both to poor performance in female representation among legislators, senior officials and managers and to low wage equality. In political empowerment, the country ranks 73rd due to the lack of women in politics and political leadership positions. Notably, the country achieved a score of 1 in educational attainment, reflecting women’s high enrolment rates in all levels of education.

In general, the four Visegrád countries scored similarly on the GGGI in 2021. The Czech Republic ranked 78th among 156 countries assessed, just below the Slovak Republic (77th) and Poland (75th); Hungary lags further behind in 99th place. Nevertheless, the Czech Republic has the lowest scores in both economic opportunities and health outcomes while it has the highest scores in education and political empowerment.

2.3. Gender gaps in education

In OECD countries, access to compulsory education is becoming almost universal, and the enrolment rate among 15-19 year-olds in the Czech Republic is one of the highest among the OECD countries for which data are available (OECD, 2021[6]). Nonetheless, gender differences persist in educational outcomes and access to tertiary education as well as in career choices. As reflected in international indices, segregation in educational choices and fields of study represent key obstacles to gender equality in the Czech Republic.

2.3.1. Boys continue to lag behind girls in reading, but both perform similarly in science and mathematics

In the 2018 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the scores of students in the Czech Republic were not significantly different from the OECD average in reading, higher than the OECD average in mathematics and higher than the OECD average in science.

There were gender differences in PISA scores, with girls performing better than boys in reading across all participating countries. In the Czech Republic, the gender gap in reading was not significantly different from the average OECD gap (33 versus 30 score points). Furthermore, the gap has narrowed since 2009 (from 48 score points) as boys’ performance improved and girls’ performance remained stable over the period. Across the OECD, girls also slightly outperformed boys in science (by two score points) in 2018. While boys have historically registered better performance in mathematics, girls’ performance has improved in recent years to five points in favour of boys in 2018. In the Czech Republic, however, such gender differences are less noticeable as girls and boys performed similarly in both science and mathematics (OECD, 2019[7]).

2.3.2. Girls fare better in secondary education, but gendered differences emerge in vocational education

In the Czech Republic, about 1% of students in lower secondary and 8% in upper secondary initial education repeated a grade in 2019, compared to 2% and 3%, respectively, on average across OECD countries. Both in the Czech Republic and across the OECD, six of ten repeaters at lower secondary level were boys. At upper secondary level, the share of boys repeating a grade in the Czech Republic was 64%, compared to 57% on average across OECD countries (OECD, 2021[8]).

Men are more likely than women to pursue a vocational track at upper secondary level in most OECD countries. Likewise, in the Czech Republic, most (56%) upper secondary vocational graduates in 2019 were men (compared to the OECD average of 55%). Women represent most of graduates from upper secondary general programmes both across OECD countries (55% on average) and in the Czech Republic (60%) (OECD, 2021[8]).

2.3.3. Participation in tertiary education remains low for both women and men, and wide gender gaps persist despite improvements

Attainment of tertiary education has expanded in the last decades, especially for women. As illustrated in Figure ‎2.1, when it comes to attainment by age and gender, the trends in the Czech Republic resemble those in many other countries: Among older generations (aged 55-64), the share of women who attain tertiary education is lower than the share of men, while the opposite is true among younger generations (aged 25-34). Despite overall increases in attainment, the share of 25-34 year-olds with tertiary education in the Czech Republic remains well below the OECD average both for women (40% in 2020 compared to 52% in the OECD) and for men (26% compared to 39% in the OECD), with a gender gap higher than the OECD average. Among Visegrád countries, the share of young women (aged 25-34) who attain tertiary education is the second lowest in the Czech Republic, followed by Hungary.

Figure ‎2.1. Attainment of tertiary education is low in the Czech Republic and gender gaps are wide

In tertiary education, women and men largely choose different fields of study. In most OECD countries, women tend to be under-represented in certain fields of STEM. In 2019, on average in the OECD, women represented 21% of STEM graduates in engineering, manufacturing and construction (versus 18% in the Czech Republic) and 27% in information and communication technologies (ICT) (versus 34% in the Czech Republic) (Figure ‎2.2). The share of women in natural sciences and mathematics and statistics is considerably higher both in the OECD (53%) and in the Czech Republic (60%). This is most likely driven by the relatively high proportion of women in natural sciences; indeed, in the Czech Republic, women made up 59% of tertiary graduates in natural sciences in 2012 (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2022[10]). Among the Visegrád countries, both Poland and the Slovak Republic have higher shares of women in STEM than the Czech Republic, while Hungary is well below the OECD average. Different stakeholders have noted that to counteract these trends, the Czech Republic has several initiatives in place to further support girls in STEM, including counselling and career advice.

Figure ‎2.2. Girls remain under-represented in information and communications technologies and engineering fields of study in the OECD and the Czech Republic

In contrast, the field of education is traditionally dominated by women. Indeed, in the Czech Republic, 83% of new entrants to the field of education in 2019 were women, more than the OECD average of 78%. Across all education levels in the Czech Republic, 24% of teachers were men compared to 30% on average across OECD countries (OECD, 2021[8]). According to stakeholders consulted for this report, there is a bigger share of men among school directors in the country than among teachers. Reasons for this may relate to salary considerations and reputational issues.

Traditional gender roles are one of the causes of the feminisation of the teaching professions. The stakeholders consulted stressed that in the Czech Republic, teaching professions are of a caring nature and therefore seen as typically female professions, especially positions in early childhood education and care (ECEC). According to data as of September 2021, 99% of the teachers in nursery schools are women, with the proportion decreasing in subsequent grades and falling to 60% in secondary schools (Czech Statistical Office, 2021[11]).

To start tackling the issue of gender gaps in the field of education, the government in 2022 promised that teachers’ salaries will be kept at 130% of the average wage (Government of the Czech Republic, 2022[12]). Given that the minimum wage is increasing, this is an important step towards making the teaching profession more financially attractive to both men and women.

Stakeholders consulted for this report also highlighted that the requirements imposed by EU funding are a major development for promoting gender equality in education as higher education institutions must have a gender equality strategy in place to be eligible for such funding.1 For instance, since 2022, the Czech Science Foundation requires all applicants to have an approved gender equality plan to be eligible for grants (Grantová Agentura České Republiky, 2022[13]). Similarly, starting in 2019, the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic evaluates how the gender perspective is reflected and integrated in research projects, assigning extra points to research organisations active in improving gender equality within their environment (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2023[14]).

As part of the Strategy for the Education Policy of the Czech Republic up to 2030+, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports is in the process of revising the education curricula (Government of the Czech Republic, 2020[15]). ICTs are currently undergoing the most dramatic shift in this context (European Commission, n.d.[16]). According to the stakeholders consulted, this ongoing curricula review may also consider gender issues in terms of both implementing non-gendered content and actively promoting gender equality. Box ‎2.1 presents examples from other OECD countries aimed at reducing gender segregation in subject choices.

Box ‎2.1. Policy examples from OECD countries on addressing gender stereotypical subject choices

Gender segregation in educational choices is still prevalent in most OECD countries, with men much more likely to choose to study STEM subjects and women tending to choose subjects in the fields of education, health and welfare (OECD, 2021[17]). Gender stereotypes influence men and women's choices. For instance, the stereotype that men are better than women at mathematics and, relatedly, women’s lower self-confidence in mathematics strongly influence young people's subject choices (OECD, 2019[18]).

Policies to address gender-stereotypical subject choices range from strategic commitment to self-evaluation practices for teachers and ensuring availability of well-trained career counsellors to encouraging children to engage with non-stereotypical subject choices. Most policies concentrate on incentivising girls to enter STEM fields:

Some countries focus on providing guidance to young children. For instance, Ireland’s 2022 Recommendations on Gender Balance in STEM Education suggest, among other actions, that primary school children and their guardians be provided guidance before the crucial transition to post-primary school, starting with STEM subject selections.
In 2019, Luxembourg released the Gender4STEM Teaching Assistant, a self-assessment tool for teachers so they can evaluate their gendered education practices. The tool also recommends learning content based on teacher profiles to better manage gender diversity in classrooms.
In Portugal, the Engineers for One Day project, launched in 2017, aims to establish engineering and technology as also female domains. The project mobilises universities and female engineers as role models and allows young people in secondary and further education to engage with practical challenges in engineering. GirlsInSTEM, a multi-country project set up in 2020, also organises bootcamps in Belgium, France, Poland and Spain to enable girls to engage with STEM and provides toolkits for educators.
The Inspiring the Future project in New Zealand, launched in 2021, facilitates interactions between schools and volunteer workers using an online platform. These are important, as OECD Career Readiness research in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States has found that students who report positive career conversations experience better employment outcomes later.

Source: OECD (2022[19]), Report on the Implementation of the OECD Gender Recommendations: Meeting of the Council at Ministerial Level, 9-10 June 2022.

2.3.4. There is a wide gender gap among young people not in employment, education or training

The incidence of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) in the Czech Republic (10.6%) is relatively low in comparison with the OECD average (13.4%). Yet, the gender gaps are considerable: In the Czech Republic, 17.0% of girls aged 15-29 are NEET compared to 4.6% of boys of the same age; on average in the OECD, these values are 11.4% and 15.8%, respectively (Figure ‎2.3). With a gap of 12.4 percentage points, the Czech Republic has the fifth-largest gap in the OECD (after Mexico, Türkiye, Colombia and Costa Rica) and the largest gender gap of any EU or Visegrád country. Several factors may account for this gender gap in NEET rates. It is possible, for instance, that businesses favour hiring young men over young women since young women are more likely to take career breaks for childbearing purposes (EuroStat, 2022[20]). This is especially the case in the Czech Republic, which offers lengthy paid parental leave (Figure ‎2.11) that is almost entirely used by mothers. Another factor is that young women may have trouble reintegrating into the workforce after giving birth and once reintegrated, are more likely to have either low-paying or unstable positions (EuroStat, 2022[20]).

Figure ‎2.3. The gender gap in rates of young people not in employment, education or training is high in the Czech Republic

2.4. Gender gaps in the labour market

Before the pandemic, the Czech labour market was characterised by labour and skills shortages that were key barriers to growth and resulted in high wages and a record low unemployment rate (OECD, 2020[22]). Consequently, the employment rate rose over time and is now higher than the OECD average. While the Czech economy is expected to grow by 1.8% in 2022 and 2.0% in 2023, the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis is hampered by supply disruptions, rising prices and overall uncertainty stemming from the war in Ukraine (OECD, 2022[23]). Given that the labour market remains tight, boosting domestic labour supply through increased employment of women, and especially of mothers is a policy action that could contribute to a productive and skilled labour force.

Indeed, despite high employment overall, the employment rates of young people, the elderly, people with disabilities and especially women – namely, mothers of young children – are significantly below those of prime-age men (OECD, 2020[22]). Although the overall employment rate of women in the Czech Republic is higher than the OECD average, motherhood has a large negative effect on labour market activity. Generous family benefits when children are younger (mostly in the form of cash benefits), long parental leaves (until the child reaches the age of three) and limited childcare availability discourage mothers’ return to work. Women remain outside the labour force for a relatively long time after childbirth, which has long-term consequences for wage and career progression (OECD, 2023[21]).

In addition, the gender pay gap in the country is relatively high, and women struggle to access leadership positions. The risk of poverty in old age is higher for women than for men. Nevertheless, due to strong redistributive features of the pension system, the gender gap in pensions is low in international comparison (OECD, 2019[24]).

2.4.1. Despite employment growth, the gender employment gap in the Czech Republic remains wide

Over the past few decades, the gender employment gaps (the gap between men’s and women’s employment rates) have narrowed across the OECD – sometimes substantially (Figure ‎2.4, Panel C). The change derives from consistent growth in women’s employment coupled often with stable or declining employment rates among men. The gender employment gap has also been decreasing in the Czech Republic, down to 14.3 percentage points in 2020, though it remains sizeable in comparison to the OECD average (10.9 percentage points). All Visegrád countries have recorded small percentage changes in the gender gap.

Furthermore, the gender employment gap remains wide despite strong employment growth in the late 2010s (Figure ‎2.4, Panels A and B). At 67.1%, the employment rate for working age women in the Czech Republic in 2020 was 9.5 percentage points higher than at the pre-crisis peak (57%) in 2008. Similarly, the employment rate for working age men (81.4%) was 6 percentage points higher than its pre-crisis peak in the same year (75.4%). Both increases rank among the largest employment rate gains in the OECD over the period (OECD, n.d.[25]), together with the gains in Hungary, Lithuania and Poland.

Part of the reason for the strong employment rate growth is that the working age population in the Czech Republic is shrinking due to a rapidly ageing population, as is the case in several other OECD countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltics (OECD, 2020[22]). The people currently entering the labour market are fewer in number than among the generations leaving, leading to a decline in the number of potential workers. Between 2005 and 2020, the number of working age men (aged 15-64) in the Czech Republic fell from 3.7 million to 3.5 million and the number of working age women dropped from 3.6 million to 3.3 million (OECD, n.d.[26]). However, raw headcount employment growth has also been strong: Between 2005 and 2020, the number of employed working age men increased from 2.7 million to 2.8 million and the number of employed working age women increased from 2 million to 2.3 million (OECD, n.d.[25]).

Figure ‎2.4. Compared to most OECD countries, the Czech Republic has made little progress in closing the gender employment gap in recent decades

The COVID-19 pandemic strongly affected gender equality in the labour market, erasing some of the gains made over the last decades. Although it is too soon to know the full extent of the pandemic’s (gendered) consequences, it is clear that the effects have been significant and heterogeneous across OECD countries (Figure ‎2.5).

Although the Czech Republic’s strong integration into global manufacturing value chains led to a deep recession in the first year of the pandemic, growth resumed in 2021, and the short-term impact on the labour markets was relatively low, with relatively modest losses in terms of labour force participation and employment to date (International Labour Organization, 2022[27]). This is likely because the labour market effect of the pandemic tended to be the greatest among mothers with young children, a group that is already under-represented in the labour force in the Czech Republic. Labour force participation was also supported by a robust COVID-19 response package that included job and income protection schemes representing 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020, and public guarantees for firms amounting to 15% of the 2020 GDP (International Labour Organization, 2022[27]). Yet, the recent drop in economic output related to the COVID-19 crisis, the rise in the unemployment rate and disruptions to childcare provision have posed additional challenges in terms of facilitating labour transitions for those not in employment, including women (OECD, 2020[22]).

Figure ‎2.5. The COVID-19 pandemic led to shifts in labour force participation and employment rates across the OECD

As countries are gradually recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on their labour markets, current and upcoming challenges such as the energy crisis, rising costs of living and the effects of Russia’s large-scale war of aggression against Ukraine put gender equality at further risk and will likely exacerbate some of the existing inequalities. Evidence on the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine indicates that these factors have deepened inequalities and raised risks for the most vulnerable (OECD, 2022[29]).

Fluctuations in the Czech Republic’s gender employment gap across age groups are sharper than those in the OECD overall

Gender employment gaps often vary across the life course. Women’s employment rates in particular tend to fluctuate with age, often because of career interruptions for care and family reasons. In many OECD countries, women frequently take leave while their children are young but return later for a “second career”; in some OECD countries, though, women often leave employment entirely following childbirth and either never return or do so only on a part-time basis (OECD, 2018[30]). Later in life, women are often more likely than men to retire early or to leave work to look after sick or elderly relatives especially in countries where public long-term care provision may be lacking and informal care is more prominent (OECD, 2019[24]).

Compared to the OECD values, the Czech gender employment gap fluctuates more sharply and more strongly with age (Figure ‎2.6). As in most OECD countries, the gender employment gap in the Czech Republic starts small. However, in the Czech Republic, it widens sharply as men and women start to form families in their 20s and early 30s. The reasons for this are the exceptionally low employment rates for mothers with young children coupled with the fact that women tend to have their first child at a slightly younger age than women in many other OECD countries (OECD, n.d.[31]). In 2020, the gender employment gap stood at 27 percentage points for 25-29 year-olds and at 34 percentage points for 30-34 year-olds against OECD averages of 13 percentage points and 19 percentage points, respectively.

However, the Czech Republic’s gender employment gap narrows considerably as men and women move into their 40s and 50s, in contrast with the OECD average of a gender gap that remains stable at about 16-18% among people older than 30 (Figure ‎2.6). To a large extent, this narrowing can be explained by the move back into employment by many mothers as their children enter pre-primary and primary school. As is the case in many other OECD countries, the gender gap widens again as men and women approach retirement (Figure ‎2.6), reaching a value of 24% in the Czech Republic – well above the OECD average of 17%. The decline in women’s employment between the 55-59 age group (85.8%) and the 60-64 age group (36.8%) is particularly sharp in the Czech Republic compared to other OECD countries.

Figure ‎2.6. The Czech Republic’s gender employment fluctuates more sharply and more strongly with age compared to the OECD overall

Gender employment gaps are wider among parents than among childless people without children and especially wide between mothers and fathers of young children

In many OECD countries, gender employment gaps among childless men and women are nominal or only small, and in some countries, childless women now earn more, on average, than childless men (OECD, 2017[32]). But this changes sharply once children arrive. Despite the evolution of men’s and women’s roles at work and at home over the past half-century or so, it is often still women who take the bulk of leave following childbirth, who reduce their hours when children are young, and who move in and out of jobs and adjust their patterns of paid work more generally to fit their family and care commitments (Causa, Luu and Abendschein, 2021[33]). As a consequence, across the OECD and markedly in the case of the Czech Republic, gender employment gaps among parents remain wide.

Across countries, virtually all employed mothers take a break from paid work around childbirth. But after this period, paid work dynamics differ due to variance in national parental supports, childcare arrangements and parental preferences. In some countries, mothers frequently return to work after a few months of paid leave (e.g. Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal). In many other countries with lengthier parental leaves, including the Czech Republic and some others in Central and Eastern Europe, mothers tend to return to work only once children enter pre-primary education at around the age of three or, more commonly, at the start of primary school at around the age of six (Figure ‎2.7).

Just 21.7% of women with the youngest child aged 0-2 were employed and at work in 2019 in the Czech Republic. This percentage was the third lowest at-work rate across OECD countries with comparable data after Hungary (16.2%) and the Slovak Republic (19.2%). It also was well below the OECD average of 58.8%. The equivalent values for mothers with a youngest child aged 3-5 were 78.9% and 72.3% for the Czech Republic and the OECD, respectively (Figure ‎2.7).

Fathers’ employment patterns tend to be much more stable following the birth of a child. Across the OECD, many fathers take a short period of paid leave directly after the birth, normally for just a few days or a few weeks at the most. Almost all fathers in almost all OECD countries return to and stay in full-time work as their children grow up (OECD, 2016[34]). In recent years, many countries have improved their paid leave policies and strengthened the incentives for fathers to take more family leave and a more active role in childcare, with significant changes having been spurred by the 2019 EU Work-Life Balance Directive (2019/1158/EU), whose provisions had to be implemented by August 2022 (European Union, 2019[35]). For instance, in 2018, the Czech Republic introduced a one-week paternity leave with similar conditions to the maternity leave entitlements and then increased it to two weeks following the transposition of the EU Work-Life Balance Directive

Beyond leave provisions, labour taxation also helps explain mothers’ low attachment to the labour market. Low-wage workers in the Czech Republic face substantial labour taxes that are among the most severe in the EU. The tax burden is relatively high for single parents with children and quite low for two-parent families. When combined with relatively high childcare expenses, this reduces the financial incentives to work for low-wage and second earners (European Commission, 2020[36]).

Figure ‎2.7. Very few mothers with very young children are in paid work in the Czech Republic

The gender employment gap in the Czech Republic does not vary much between education levels

In most OECD countries, gender employment gaps are smaller among men and women with higher levels of education. In 2020, the average employment gap between highly educated men and women stood at 8 percentage points, whereas the gap between men and women with low levels of education was 21 percentage points. In some countries including Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia and Sweden, the gender employment gap for highly educated men and women was less than 3 percentage points. These days in many OECD countries, tackling the gender employment gap mostly means tackling the employment gap among less-educated men and women.

In the Czech Republic, however, differences in the size of the gender employment gap between education levels are among the smallest in the OECD (Figure ‎2.8); the gaps remain wide for all education levels. In 2020, gender employment gaps for men and women with low education was 18 percentage points, slightly lower than the OECD average, and the gap for men and women with high education was 17 percentage points, well above the average. The pattern is similar in several other OECD countries in Central and Eastern Europe, among them Austria, Hungary and the Slovak Republic. A major explanation for the relative similarity in the size of the gap across education levels in the Czech Republic is that both highly-educated and less-educated women often remain outside of employment for an extended period following childbirth.

Figure ‎2.8. Unlike in other OECD countries, gender employment gaps in the Czech Republic are similar across different education levels

Once employed, women work almost as many hours as men and mainly full time

The Czech Republic’s gender gap in working hours (2.9 hours per week, according to 2020 data) is one of the smallest in the OECD and about half the OECD average gap of 5.6 hours per week. On average in 2020, employed men in the Czech Republic usually worked 41.2 hours per week and employed women worked 38.3 hours per week (OECD, n.d.[25]).

A key reason for its relatively small gender working hours gap is that in contrast to many other OECD countries, very few women workers in the Czech Republic work part time (Figure ‎2.9). In the Czech Republic, almost all workers – men and women – work full-time hours, as is the case in the other countries in Eastern Europe and the Baltics. This is true for both women and men: in 2020, as few as 8% of employed women and just 3% of employed men usually worked part time in the Czech Republic (OECD, n.d.[25]).

Figure ‎2.9. Part-time employment is uncommon in the Czech Republic

The incidence of temporary employment is also lower in the Czech Republic than in the OECD overall. In 2020, 6.3% of men and 8.7% of women employed were in temporary employment in the Czech Republic compared to 11.3% and 11.6%, respectively, in the OECD. Yet gender differences in temporary employment have increased since 1995: in 2020, the gap was 2.4 percentage points, with more women than men in temporary employment, above the OECD average of 0.3 percentage points (OECD, n.d.[25]).

Public spending on families in the Czech Republic is above the OECD average

Given the analysis of employment gaps presented in this section, policy needs to give particular attention to closing the labour market gaps for mothers with young children. Supporting the employment of mothers with young children in the Czech Republic requires further expanding the availability of childcare services while supporting a more equal sharing of paid and care work by both parents and providing further opportunities for flexible working arrangements.

All OECD countries provide family support. The Nordic countries, for instance, provide service-heavy family supports to families with young children that aim primarily to encourage full-time dual-earning and to foster child development. These countries provide parents with a continuum of support from birth up until children leave school. Other OECD countries focus more on providing families with financial support through family cash benefits and tax breaks. In some countries, among them the Visegrád countries in Central and Eastern Europe, such support is done largely through universal cash benefits provided to all families. These benefits are often structured in such a way as to encourage one parent (typically the mother) to care for children at home, at least until they enter pre-primary education at about the age of three. Still, other countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom place greater emphasis on targeted benefits aimed at achieving specific objectives or directed at specific groups such as single-parent families or families with low incomes.

In 2017, the latest year for which OECD-wide comparable data are available, public spending on families in the Czech Republic amounted to 2.9% of GDP, higher than the OECD average of 2.3% (Figure ‎2.10) (OECD, n.d.[39]). Such spending in the country is heavily tilted towards generous cash benefits for families with young children, while public spending on services, such as childcare provision and support and early childhood education, remains low. The government recently made family cash benefits even more generous. Total cash benefits accruing to families with young children relative to the average wage are the highest in the OECD (OECD, 2020[22]).

Despite high family supports, key stakeholders expressed the need for policies to further focus on work-life balance Specifically, more support is needed for working parents. Due to the lack of availability of childcare, especially for children under the age of three, some parents in the Czech Republic who want to work are not able to do so. In this respect, important developments are currently underway that aim to increase the childcare offer. At the same time, incentivising the use of flexible forms of work is also crucial to support parents’ work-life balance.

Figure ‎2.10. Public spending on families in the Czech Republic is above the OECD average, but spending on services is low

In the Czech Republic, parental leave is generous relative to that of other OECD countries but may act as a disincentive for women to return to the labour force

The Czech Republic maintains a generous parental leave compared with other OECD countries. The country’s current system of leave around childbirth comprises 28 weeks of maternity leave (exclusive to the mother), two weeks of paternal leave (exclusive to the father), and shareable parental leave (following the maternity leave and flexible in duration) (Figure ‎2.11). For the shareable leave, one parent can stay at home while receiving a parental allowance until the child reaches the age of three without losing reintegration rights at their employer.

Employment-protected parental leave is available until the child’s third birthday, while the parental allowance regarding the child in question is paid until the child is four years old. The Czech system is flexible and gives parents the option to choose their preferred duration of parental with varying payment rates. If Czech mothers were to maximise their weekly payment rate of parental allowance during parental leave, then they would take leave for 68.6 weeks (including the 28 weeks of maternity leave) at an average payment rate of 78.3%, which is higher than in many other OECD countries (Figure ‎2.11). However, according to the Czech authorities, the majority of families claim the parental leave allowance over a longer period of time (frequently until the child is three years old), due to which the average monthly payment is lower (26.4%)2 (OECD, n.d.[31]). However, combined with child cash benefits, long parental leave can contribute to gender differences in the labour market as they discourage Czech women from resuming work in the first few years after childbirth. As stressed by the stakeholders consulted, it is very unusual for a woman returning to work after leave to obtain a wage increase.

A growing number of OECD countries have introduced “fathers-only” leaves, such as paid paternity leave and lengthier fathers-only paid parental leaves with the aim of encouraging men to spend more time at home caring for their children. In the Czech Republic, the legislation on parental leave that allows fathers to also take leave was introduced in 1990. Yet, the number of men receiving the parental benefit (parental allowance) is negligible compared to the number of women. It is estimated that currently, only about 2% of all recipients are men (Kocourková, 2022[40]).

The government has been more actively encouraging men to take on a larger portion of parental leave and in 2018, paternity leave of seven calendar days was introduced to encourage fathers to engage in childcare from an early stage. Following the transposition of the EU Work-Life Balance Directive, paternal leave was increased to two weeks (European Union, 2019[35]). According to recent data provided by the Czech authorities, between January and September 2022, approximately 37 000 men claimed the two-week paternal leave (Czech Social Security Administration, 2022[41]). Paternity leave is paid with a replacement rate of 70% of daily earnings up to a ceiling of CZK 22 260 per seven days in 2022, but as the average daily earnings exceed the ceiling, the average payment is 63.7% of previous earnings.

Figure ‎2.11. Czech Republic has a lengthy parental leave but only a short leave reserved for fathers

The participation of very young children in childcare is very low in the Czech Republic

As is the case in most OECD countries, participation in ECEC is high in the Czech Republic for children aged 3-5, in line with the OECD average. Since 2020, the maximum that a child under two can spend in nursery or other pre-school facilities without the family losing the parental allowance has been doubled to 92 hours per month (European Commission, 2020[42]). Yet, enrolment of children under the age of three years is the fifth lowest in the OECD (Figure ‎2.12).

In recent years, investments have been promoted to expand the availability of various childcare provider modalities. Examples include so-called children’s groups (for children from the age of one to the start of compulsory education), micro-nurseries (for children aged six months to three years) and public kindergartens (from the age of three to primary school) (OECD, 2020[22]). Notably, at the time of writing this report, there are 1 494 children’s groups with capacity for 20 125 children in total (Czech Republic Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, 2023[43]). EU funding under the scope of the European Social Fund Plus and European Regional Development Fund has greatly contributed to expanding the capacity of childcare. Moreover, the country’s National Recovery Plan foresees the establishment of 303 new children’s groups until 2025 to accommodate a total of 5 758 children. Importantly, the Czech government has decided to use national funds to ensure the sustainability of the investments and support the continuation of the ECEC services that were started using EU funds. Other important efforts have been made to provide childcare for Ukrainian children, as discussed in Box ‎2.3. Recent policy developments also include an increase in the number of hours a child under the age of two can be in a childcare facility without the parent losing the entitlement to parental allowance.

Nevertheless, the stakeholders’ consultations highlighted the issues of large regional variations in service provision and limited ECEC opening hours that may not be sufficient to ensure that mothers can go back to work.

Figure ‎2.12. In the Czech Republic, participation in early childhood education and care is high for pre-primary age children, but very low for children under age three

The Czech Republic has made efforts to support flexible work, but there is room for improvement

Flexible working helps workers organise paid hours around care obligations, can reduce their commute times and can allow them to remain closer to dependent family members if regular caregiving is needed (OECD, 2017[32]). Greater access to flexible practices can reduce the number of workers who experience stress at home and/or at work and thus diminish absenteeism and increase productivity (Bond and Galinsky, 2011[44]). However, when poorly designed, flexible practices also have the potential to increase total working hours and work-life conflict. Regular part-time work is a commonly used form of working time flexibility. But flexible working also includes measures such as flexible starting and finishing times, working compressed work weeks, and teleworking.

While flexible working practices are often set at the firm level or through collective agreements, OECD governments are increasingly looking to facilitate access by providing workers with the right (to request) certain arrangements (OECD, 2016[45]; OECD, 2017[32]). A right to reduced working hours is one of the most common statutory entitlements, especially for parents. Most OECD countries allow parents to work reduced hours during their child’s early years. In many cases, this is to permit breastfeeding, but in some countries, parents have a more general right to part-time employment. The Czech Republic has recently introduced new forms of flexible work.

More recently, several OECD countries have introduced broader rights (to request) flexible working arrangements. Beyond the number of working hours, some countries also include the scheduling of hours and the place of work. In some countries, these rights are given to all workers regardless of their family situation. For example, in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, all employees meeting certain tenure criteria have the right to request flexible working, including the scheduling of hours and the place of work, and employers can refuse only on serious business grounds. Such rights are not as expansive in the Czech Republic. Widening the right to request to all employees is important as it confers bargaining power and lessens the risk of discrimination against target groups of workers (e.g. parents).

Better sharing of paid and care work when children are very young

In many OECD countries, many workers – especially women – use part-time work as a means of combining their work and family responsibilities when children are very young, namely during the parental leave years. While such options can be relevant during the child’s first years, it is fundamental that policy design does not relegate mothers to involuntary part-time employment.

Relevant international examples preventing involuntary part-time work are found in OECD countries. For instance, in 2019, Germany introduced temporary part-time work, allowing workers to reduce their working time for a certain period and to then return to their originally agreed working time (Box ‎2.2). In 2020, Norway strengthened reporting duties for public and large private employers, requiring them to map and account for the use of involuntary part-time (OECD, 2022[19]).

Box ‎2.2. Encouraging fathers’ take-up of part-time leave and mothers’ return to part-time work: The example of Germany

Germany provides 14 weeks of maternity leave at a rate of 100% of wages and parental leave of up to three years of employment-protected leave to each parent (of which 24 months can be used up to the child’s eighth birthday).

Income-related benefits are available to parents who are on full-time or part-time leave. The parents can choose between or combine the regular Parental Allowance and the Parental Allowance Plus. The latter was created in 2015 to help parents who want to return to work sooner and covers part of parents’ lost income if they reduce their working hours for childcare reasons.

If both parents work part time (24 to 32 hours per week), four additional months of leave are provided (Partnership Bonus). Employers cannot refuse requests for part-time work from workers receiving a parental allowance and must offer them the option of returning to full-time work after their leave.

These measures have been shown to have positive effects such as fathers spending more time with their children and more evenly dividing family chores with their spouses. The percentage of fathers using the parental benefit has grown as a result of the introduction of a parental allowance. Between 2009 and 2019, the percentage of men on parental leave with a child under the age of six increased by nearly half to 1.6% (12.6% for mothers).

Source: (Reinschmidt, 2018[46]; Reimer et al., 2021[47]; German Federal Statistical Office, 2021[48]).

Beyond the existing provisions for part-time employment included in the Labour Code, the Czech government has introduced “shared jobs” that allow mothers with small children to work part time in a flexible way (Parliament of the Czech Republic, 2020[49]). Shared positions provide good flexibility as employees can schedule their working hours based on mutual agreement with employers. The effective use of such shared positions will nonetheless also depend on the willingness and ability of employers; for this reason, the Labour Office of the Czech Republic developed a programme (Flexi) to support employers who create such a position (Bilinská, 2021[50]).

Teleworking practices

With the COVID-19 crisis, many firms and workers around the world used teleworking to continue working through lockdown and confinement. As of 2020, workers’ access to teleworking came with different legal guarantees across OECD countries, with some granting a statutory right to request teleworking. Depending on the country, this right covers all employees (e.g. Spain and New Zealand) or only subgroups of employees (e.g. pregnant women, carers or workers with specific medical conditions/disability, among others, as in Australia and Lithuania). It can be non-conditional (i.e. it can be requested for any reason as in the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom) or reserved for particular motives (e.g. work-life balance, as in Spain). Crucially, in some instances, the right to request teleworking may allow employers limited possibilities to refuse or it might be that no justifications are needed for refusal. Where no statutory right to request teleworking exists, a majority of workers might be covered by a collective agreement that effectively grants them this right, either at the national, sectoral or firm level. By contrast, in a third group of countries that includes the Czech Republic, the conditions of access to teleworking are left entirely to negotiation in individual contracts (or to firm-level agreements covering only a minority of workers), even though the possibility to telework might be inscribed in the law (OECD, 2021[51]).3 Many countries have introduced temporary changes to their teleworking regulations since COVID-19, and others introduced permanent changes after 2020.

2.4.2. Segregation and gender wage gaps persist in the Czech labour market

Across OECD countries and indeed across the globe, women continue to earn less than men. Labour market segregation along with discrimination, gender differences in education, working hours, employment histories, job and employer characteristics, and preferences are factors contributing to gender pay gaps (OECD, 2017[32]). These factors also contribute to more women than men being exposed to poverty: Across the OECD, 11% of men and 12% of women are experiencing poverty, while in the Czech Republic, 4% of men and 7% of women are exposed. Although the overall incidence of poverty is lower than the OECD average, the Czech Republic has one of the higher gender gaps in poverty rates among OECD countries, after Latvia, Lithuania, Korea, Estonia and Japan.

Labour market segregation is prevalent in the Czech Republic, as it is in other OECD countries, and men and women often work in different sectors, industries and areas of the economy. Employed women are heavily over‑represented in the service sector, for example. In 2019, three-quarters (74.7%) of employed women and around half of employed men (48.5%) were employed in services in the Czech Republic compared to OECD averages of 82.6% of women and 60.2% of men (OECD, 2022[9]). Compared to the OECD average (13.3% for women and 33.7% for men), a higher concentration of both women and men (23.6% and 48.1%, respectively) are employed in the industry sector in the Czech Republic.

The gender gap at the bottom end of the earnings distribution in the country, however, is very small – just 2.9.%, the second lowest in the OECD after Portugal (Figure ‎2.13). The gender earnings gap widens towards the higher end of the pay scale, meaning that the gap between the highest-earning men and the highest-earning women is comparatively large. The gender earnings gap at the 9th decile stood at 17.7%, just below the OECD average gap of 18.3%. With large variation in gender gaps across the earnings distribution, the Czech Republic’s situation is very similar to that of the other Visegrád countries. The Czech gender gap in median earnings (12.4%) is slightly above the OECD average (11.6%) and the average of the Visegrád countries.

Figure ‎2.13. The gender gap in median earnings is comparatively narrow but is wide at the top end of the earnings distribution in the Czech Republic

OECD countries have launched various initiatives to directly support women’s labour market integration and have promoted gender equality approaches in labour market policy strategies. In addition, countries are increasingly integrating an intersectionality perspective in policies supporting women’s employment. For instance, in Canada, a task force will review the Employment Equity Act from an intersectionality perspective to help remove employment barriers for designated groups (OECD, 2022[19]). For the implementation of its Gender Equality Strategy for 2021-2030 (Strategy 2021+), the Czech Republic also identifies intersectionality as one of the cross-sectional principles to be applied.

Many factors drive the wage gap between women and men. But there are few straightforward solutions to close it. Across the OECD, closing gender gaps in educational attainment has helped, yet not enough. The same is true for family supports such as public childcare and paid leave, which have gone some ways to help boost women’s labour force participation over the past few decades. Efforts to reduce horizontal and vertical segregation and attempts to equalise the gendered distribution of unpaid care work have moved very slowly in most countries. Equal pay laws and anti-discrimination laws have been crucial for ensuring workers’ rights and exist widely throughout the OECD, but in practice, these laws put the onus of equal pay on individual workers and do little to close gender wage gaps more broadly (OECD, 2021[52]). Most OECD countries have clarified the concept of equal pay for equal work and/or work of equal value in national legislation. Those that have not clarified the concept in national legislation have clarified equal pay principles through the courts and case law (OECD, 2021[52]).

Policies such as pay transparency and wage mapping are gaining momentum to close the gender wage gap. Pay transparency practices can help fight discriminatory practices that contribute to the gender wage gap. About half of the OECD countries require pay gap reporting and/or auditing by private sector firms (OECD, 2021[52]). Yet the Czech Republic has not yet implemented a mandatory gender pay gap reporting and/or pay gap audit system to help police equal pay between men and women. Changes may be expected as the European Commission has proposed a directive to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work between men and women (COM/2021/93 final) (European Commission, 2021[53]). According to various stakeholders consulted, the Czech government has reacted positively to this directive. Other recent advancements in pay transparency come mainly from the implementation of international pilot projects such as pay calculators (for instance through the use of Logib,4 an equal pay analysis tool available online). However, in the Czech Republic as in many OECD countries, employers are still reluctant to share information on salaries and some employment contracts contain clauses of non-disclosure of salaries.

2.4.3. Women make up a relatively low share of managers and still struggle to make it to the top

The work interruptions and concessions that women make for family reasons often lead to attrition in the number of women who advance to management positions. This so-called leaky pipeline to top jobs has contributed to women making up only about one-third of managers on average across OECD countries. Women make up 28% of managers in the Czech Republic, one of the lowest shares among OECD countries (Figure ‎2.14). Women are also far less likely than men to sit on boards of private companies or to rise to executive positions: In 2021, women held only 23% of seats on boards of the largest public companies in the Czech Republic, below the OECD average of 28% (OECD, n.d.[54]). The Czech Republic also performs considerably worse than the other Visegrád countries; the share of women on boards of the largest public companies is 43% in Poland, 39% in Hungary and 36% in the Slovak Republic.

Figure ‎2.14. Almost 30% of managers in the Czech Republic are women

OECD and other countries have undertaken a wide range of initiatives to promote gender diversity on the boards and in senior management of listed companies. There have been positive results in terms of increasing women’s presence on company boards of listed enterprises, but less progress in increasing the share of women in management positions (OECD, forthcoming[55]; 2021[56]). Such measures generally consist of mandatory quotas or voluntary targets for board composition in listed companies. For example, France, Germany and Italy have made some of the biggest gains with the support of both board quotas and disclosure requirements. Currently, in the Czech Republic, no quotas or target systems are in place.

At the same time, evidence suggests that quotas and targets may not be sufficient in and of themselves (OECD, 2020[57]), and it is important to have complementary initiatives to develop the female talent pipeline and to expand the pool of qualified candidates. Complementary initiatives encompass reporting requirements on gender diversity policies women in management and executive positions, and gender pay differentials; public-private awareness raising and advocacy; and government-led incentive programmes as well as private sector-led networks, training and skills development. There is also some evidence that different jurisdictions at different stages of progress may need to adopt differing measures, for example where more emphasis may be required to achieve a cultural shift and receptiveness to women in leadership positions before other measures may be fully successful (OECD, 2022[19]).

2.5. Gender gaps in entrepreneurship and self-employment

Despite some progress, a gender gap remains throughout the entire entrepreneurship pipeline across the OECD. Women continue to be less likely than men to be working on a new start-up or operating either a new or established business. They are also less like to be self-employed. In 2020, women were about 30% less likely than men to be self-employed across OECD countries. As shown in Figure ‎2.15, in the Czech Republic, 11% of women in employment were self-employed (slightly above the OECD average of 10.1%) compared to 19% of men in employment (above the OECD average of 16.9%) in 2020. In 2020, 15.6% of men in employment and 9.9% of women in employment did not have any employees (gender gap of 5.7 percentage points, higher than the OECD average gap of 3.6. percentage points), while 3.7% and 1.3% did (gender gap of 2.4 percentage points, lower than the OECD average of 3.1 percentage points. This indicates that, compared to the OECD average, significantly fewer self-employed people employ other workers in the Czech Republic. This is particularly the case for women, who account for the fifth-lowest share in employment after Japan, Norway, Lithuania and the United Kingdom); the OECD average is 2.2 percentage points (OECD, 2022[9]).

Figure ‎2.15. Women are less likely than men to be self-employed in the Czech Republic

These gender gaps in entrepreneurship are due to a range of factors. While all entrepreneurs face challenges in setting up and maintaining their businesses, including low levels of entrepreneurship skills, difficulties accessing external finance, and small and ineffective entrepreneurship networks, overall, these barriers tend to be greater for women entrepreneurs (OECD/European Commission, 2021[58]). These obstacles were further underlined during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many women choose entrepreneurship as a way to reconcile work and care commitments as it is thought to provide flexibility in working hours. To meet care commitments, they may also aim to limit the growth of their enterprise but then find that the demands of running a business require even longer hours than full-time employment as an employee. Other important barriers for women entrepreneurs are social attitudes towards entrepreneurship (e.g. gender differences in risk aversion and a fear of failure) and gender bias in the framework conditions for entrepreneurship (e.g. difficulties accessing government support schemes due to selection criteria such as sector, revenue and growth potential or lack of relevance of support offered) (OECD, 2021[59]). While some of these issues are related to decisions about participation in the labour market (e.g. income taxation), many influence the decision to work as an entrepreneur or an employee (e.g. access to maternity and family supports).

An overview of entrepreneurship policies through a gender lens confirms these points, showing that in the Czech Republic, women’s self-employment and motivation are increasing. Yet, this increase is particularly strong among women with young children and those of pre-retirement age. This may show that self-employment is not always necessarily the first choice, but it may rather be a decision based on necessity, for instance in relation to flexible working conditions and work-life balance (OECD, 2021[59]). Consultation with stakeholders highlighted that entrepreneurship is indeed used for work-life balance purposes in the Czech Republic and that the kinds of businesses women launch tend to be in different sectors than businesses run by men – for instance, in the field of private childcare provision or in the care sector.

In 25 of the 31 OECD countries for which data are available, the gender gap in self-employment narrowed between 2011 and 2020. This was also the case in the Czech Republic, where the gender gap decreased slightly. Different factors may account for the improvement in the OECD countries, including policy interventions to support women entrepreneurs or the economic cycle, such as initiatives to help women overcome specific obstacles related to skills and access to finance and networks and policies to address bias in the entrepreneurship framework conditions (OECD, 2022[19]). However, one of the most important factors has been a decline in the share of men who are self-employed over the past decade. The gender gap has also closed among self-employed with employees, though to a lesser extent than among those without employees. In the Czech Republic, however, the gender gap among self-employed and employees remained constant over the past decade, highlighting the need for further policy action in this area (OECD/European Commission, 2021[58]). To this end, Strategy 2021+ includes a specific objective to increase female entrepreneurship by supporting projects focused on expanding the entrepreneurship of women and ensuring that close attention is paid to the risk of involuntary self-employment.

2.6. Gender gaps in public life

Across the OECD, there has been an increase in women’s representation in decision-making roles. Nonetheless, women continue to be under-represented in decision-making positions, though with significant variations across countries. At the parliamentary level, the average share of women in lower or single house in OECD countries reached 33% in 2022 (Figure ‎2.16). At the ministerial level, women’s average representation reached 34% in 2021 (Figure ‎2.17). The average share of women judges in the supreme courts in OECD member countries that are also members of the Council of Europe increased reached 36% in 2018 (Figure ‎2.18). For all these indicators, the values for the Czech Republic are lower (26%, 31% and 23% respectively). Still, it is important to stress that the Czech Republic experienced major improvements over the last five years in women’s representation in ministerial positions, which rose from 18% in 2017 (compared to an OECD average of 28%) to 31% in 2021 (approaching the OECD average of 34%).

Among the barriers to more women accessing (and remaining in), public leadership positions are work-life balance challenges, prevailing gender stereotypes, lack of family-friendly measures and limited commitment of political parties (OECD, 2022[19]). Fellegi, Kočí and Benešová (2022[60]) note that while the number of female diplomats in the Czech Republic has steadily increased since the “Czechoslovak era” and with improved representation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as of 2021, women’s representation in the highest diplomatic positions remains low (14%). While work-family conflicts are a challenge for all diplomats, the authors argue that women appear to be disproportionately disadvantaged due to deeply ingrained perceptions of gender roles, particularly around motherhood. Similarly, Havelková, Kosař and Urbániková (2021[61]) argue that a gendered division of labour, especially at home, is one of the main reasons for vertical gender segregation within the Czech judiciary.

Figure ‎2.16. Women’s representation in the parliament has increased slightly in the Czech Republic

Figure ‎2.17. Women’s representation in ministerial positions in the Czech Republic has seen a major uptick

Figure ‎2.18. Representation of women on supreme courts is low in the Czech Republic

OECD countries have adopted a number of measures aimed at improving gender balance in leadership positions in public institutions, among them ratios, targets and quotas; mentorship; networking; capacity-building programmes; and active recruitment of women for leadership positions (OECD, 2022[19]). A few countries have also undertaken campaigns to encourage women’s leadership and change gender norms and biases. The Czech Republic has reported that it is undertaking measures to promote mentorship and networking programmes or activities for women, implement anti-violence and anti-discrimination policies, and provide work-life balance measures (OECD, 2021[63]). However, in the Czech Republic and indeed across the OECD, more sustained efforts are needed to improve gender balance in leadership positions in public life, including exploring measures aimed at improving transparency in selection, recruitment and promotion processes for senior positions (OECD, 2022[19]).

2.7. Gender gaps in pensions in the Czech Republic

A sizeable gender gap in retirement income, wealth and pensions arises after a lifetime of unequal earnings. The gender pension gap – calculated as the difference between the average total retirement income of men and women, expressed as a percentage of men’s average retirement income, taking into account both public and private sources of income – ranges from 3% of men’s average retirement income in Estonia to 47% in Japan in the OECD area (Figure ‎2.19). On average in the OECD, women aged 65 and over receive about 74% of the retirement income of men.

In the Czech Republic, the motherhood penalty results in important disadvantages in terms of wage and career progression over a woman’s lifetime. This is also reflected in marked differences between men and women in average old age pensions and the higher risk of poverty in old age for women. Yet, due to strong redistributive features of the country’s pension system, the gender gap in pensions in the Czech Republic (12%) is comparatively low against the OECD average of 26% (Figure ‎2.19) (OECD, 2020[22]). Of the Visegrád countries, only the Slovak Republic had a smaller relative difference between men and women.

Figure ‎2.19. The gender pension gap in the Czech Republic is one of the lowest across the OECD

In most OECD countries, poverty rates are higher among women than men due to these gender pension gaps as well as women’s longer life expectancy, which often leaves older women living alone (OECD, 2021[64]). In addition, older women are at greater risk of poverty than older men in most OECD countries. Lower earnings-related pension income and longer life expectancy are among the main drivers of higher poverty incidence among women than among men. The average old age poverty rate in OECD countries is 16.6% for women and 11.5% for men. In the Czech Republic, the rates are 11.5% and 3.8% respectively – one of the largest gender gaps in the OECD (after Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Korea, Slovenia and Poland) (OECD, 2023[65]). Moreover, poverty depth in the Czech Republic is among the lowest, meaning that the average income of elderly persons who are relatively poor is closer to the poverty line income than in countries with high poverty depth (OECD, 2021[66]). This may be the reason why elderly women in the Czech Republic fare relatively worse than elderly women elsewhere in the world even though the gender pension gap in the Czech Republic is small in international comparison (Figure ‎2.19).

Another major development relates to equalising the retirement ages of men and women. In 2020, gender differences in the normal retirement age existed in nine OECD countries. However, for the generation entering the labour market in 2020, gender gaps were phased out in all OECD countries except Colombia, Hungary, Israel, Poland, Switzerland and Türkiye (OECD, 2021[66]). The Czech Republic is among the few OECD countries that still have gender-specific retirement ages, though a planned convergence of retirement ages between men and women to take place by 2037 (OECD, 2020[67]).

The current government in the Czech Republic is the fifth to deal with the ongoing pension reform. Recently, new working groups have been established and discussions have taken place between the Czech government and other stakeholders. Considering that pensions are very low (especially for some people who worked in communist times), the reform aims to ensure a basic pension for all. Stakeholders consulted for this report underscored that gendered aspects, such as considerations for mothers with children and time taken off from employment for caretaking, are likely to be part of the ultimate reform.

2.8. Understanding how gender inequality shapes and reflects society

2.8.1. In the Czech Republic, attitudes towards gender roles remain fairly traditional

Czechs’ attitudes towards gender roles are among the most traditional in the OECD. Almost 40% of respondents to the European Values Study agreed with the statement that men make better political leaders than women (compared to the OECD average of 21%), a finding that could partly explain the low number of women participating in politics. In addition, 30% of respondents think that men make better business executives than women (compared to the OECD average of 18%), and 20% said they agreed with the statement that men should have more rights to jobs than women when jobs are scarce (against the OECD average of 17%) (Figure ‎2.20). Only Korea, Lithuania, the Slovak Republic and Türkiye have a larger share of respondents with similarly traditional attitudes. The percentages of respondents agreeing with these statements in the other Visegrád countries (Hungary and Poland) also were higher than the OECD average. These findings are extremely relevant as social norms – serving as the unspoken rules of the game and guiding the stereotypical roles of women and men in the society – are often at the root of gender inequalities.

Figure ‎2.20. Almost 40% of Czechs think that men make better political leaders than do women

2.8.2. Violence against women remains a significant issue in the Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic as in other OECD countries, women are disproportionately affected by domestic violence, stalking and rape. Comparable data on the prevalence of gender-based violence are limited. But survey data suggest that 21% of Czech women who have ever been in a partnership report having suffered intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence, just below the OECD average of 22% (OECD, 2022[69]). According to more specific data from the Czech police from 2017, 25 of the 41 women who were homicide victims that year were killed by an intimate partner (defined as a former or current spouse not necessarily sharing a residence) (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2021[70]). Furthermore, according to Eurostat data, in 2019, the Czech Republic had the fifth-highest rate of female victims of intentional homicide perpetrated by an intimate partner of 14 EU jurisdictions, at 0.3 per 100 000 inhabitants (European Institute for Gender Equality, 2021[70]).

As in other OECD countries, harmful stereotypes about gender-based violence are still present in Czech society. For instance, surveys find that 6.6% of women between the ages of 15 and 49 consider “wife-beating” justified for any one of the following reasons: if the wife burns her spouse’s food, argues with him, goes out without telling him, neglects the children or refuses sexual relations – very close to the OECD average of 7.9% (OECD, 2022[69]). Responses to a public opinion poll in 2018 also confirmed the persistence of harmful stereotypes, with a majority (58%) of the adults polled reporting that they believe there are instances in which a woman is partially to be blamed for being raped (Office of the Government of the Czech Republic, 2021[2]; Amnesty International, 2018[71]). Nonetheless, an even larger majority of respondents (70%) see violence against women to be a problem in the Czech Republic, and 84% said there should be more focus on prevention (Amnesty International, 2018[71]).

An important dimension of the gender-based violence problem in the Czech Republic is the rise in intimate partner violence among young people and adolescents, confirmed by findings of the police as well as social workers (Office of the Government of the Czech Republic, 2021[2]). A key characteristic of intimate partner violence among the youth is the prevalence of cyber violence. As is the case with data on gender-based violence more generally, availability of comparable data is limited.

There has been reluctance to address the issue of violence against women, and the Czech Republic is among the last EU countries that have yet to ratify the Istanbul Convention. At the same time, against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the #MeToo movement and legislative developments at the EU level, the issue has been getting more attention in the country’s policy debates.

Local and media sources suggest that the consideration of gender-based violence at the level of the central administration has been focused on the legislative framework, namely a discussion around the definition of domestic violence and rape also in the context of the European Commission’s proposed directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence (European Union, 2022[72]). Other developments include, but are not limited to, the following:

The 2022 Policy Statement of the Government of the Czech Republic, which defines governmental priorities for the duration of its mandate, is the first to mention violence against women, stressing the need to protect victims of sexual and domestic violence (Government of the Czech Republic, 2022[12]).
In 2022, the Government Council for Gender Equality called for legislative changes to better protect survivors and victims of domestic and sexual violence. It also recommended that the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs ensure the capacity of social services for the survivors/victims of gender-based violence within the scope of an amendment of the law on social services which is currently under consideration. The preparation of a new action plan for the prevention of domestic and gender-based violence is also being discussed.
Various conferences and awareness-raising activities have been organised around the issue of gender-based violence, including within the Czech presidency of the Council of the EU.
In December 2021, the Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs of the Czech Republic Chamber of Deputies established a new subcommittee on domestic and sexual violence. Its focus has been on the legislative framework to update the definition rape in relation to the European Commission’s proposed directive.
Since 2020, the Gender Equality Department in the Office of the Government has been running a project that is set to run through 2023 on strengthening capacities and methodological support in the prevention of domestic and gender-based violence. It aims to increase the capacities of the public administration to combat domestic and gender-based violence, increase the ability of police to respond to new forms of sexual violence in cyberspace and sensitively approach victims, improve the prevention of sexual violence among young people through education, and build knowledge about the extent and forms of online sexism within the Czech society.
The Czech Republic figured among the many OECD countries that adopted extra measures during COVID-19. These include the provision of information, outreach and awareness-raising activities as well as strengthened judiciary support through, for instance, the application of more severe criminal punishment for gender-based violence cases.
In 2019, the Office of the Government and the Office of the Public Defender of Rights published a handbook on the prevention of sexual violence in the public sector.

Although services to prevent gender-based violence and to assist its victims have improved in the past few years, it is fundamental to ensure the effectiveness of the different policy actions in place to eradicate the issue and tackle persistent barriers. For instance, as noted by the stakeholders consulted for this report, the availability of shelters and social services is still limited. Urgent action is required in this context, especially considering that Russia’s large-scale war of aggression against Ukraine led to an inflow of a great number of refugees into the Czech Republic and that the existing centres typically lack the intercultural skills needed to attend to a migrant population (Box ‎2.3) (OECD, 2023[73]).

Box ‎2.3. Policy measures supporting Ukrainian refugees

In light of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine and the resulting influx of Ukrainian refugees, the stakeholders consulted for this report highlighted important policy issues and actions undertaken:

The government of the Czech Republic is providing more and more flexible support to Ukrainian people, for example creating children’s groups for Ukrainian children and hiring Ukrainian teachers. In 2022, 173 new children’s groups were established through the Operational Programme Employment+ funded by the European Social Fund Plus with the aim of increasing their capacity.
The government has also launched calls for applications from organisations and entities to provide language courses and run adaptation groups for children of foreigners migrating from Ukraine (European Commission, 2022[74]).
Social service providers are seeking more training on intercultural care.
Labour market segregation of female migrants into services, care and domestic work is of concern. Prior to the war in Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic showed that many migrant women are working in healthcare in very precarious working conditions and with very low pay.
The lengthy process for recognition of foreign qualifications can slow migrants’ entry into the Czech Republic labour market.
There is no bilateral agreement between the Czech Republic and Ukraine on pensions, which poses a problem for older workers and retired people coming from Ukraine.

Source: European Commission (2022[74]), Czech Republic: New funding opportunities for initiatives promoting the integration and education of children fleeing Ukraine, https://ec.europa.eu/migrant-integration/news/czech-republic-new-funding-opportunities-initiatives-promoting-integration-and-education_en; consultations with stakeholders.

2.9. Why reinforcing institutions and capacities for gender mainstreaming matters

As noted, gender equality is a key enabler of inclusive growth and national well-being. Despite improvements in gender equality in the Czech Republic, disparities between men and women persist in society and the economy, with gaps remaining in education, employment, entrepreneurship and public life and reflected in the prevalence of gender norms and gender-based violence. Similar to the global situation, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these long-standing gender inequalities in the Czech Republic, impacting areas such as women’s employment and participation in the labour force.

Yet, it has also presented a crucial opportunity to address these gaps and inequalities through the dual approach of not only adopting targeted measures to remove specific inequalities but also integrating a gender equality perspective across all government action (i.e. gender mainstreaming) to make better and more inclusive decisions (OECD, 2016[75]). This can in turn improve the fairness and responsiveness of policy delivery and outcomes (OECD, 2021[76]). To achieve more gender-equal outcomes, governments need strategic enablers such as strengthened legal, strategic and institutional foundations as well as greater capacities and capabilities for both gender mainstreaming and gender-sensitive policy and decision making (e.g. through the use of gender impact assessments, gender-sensitive data and evidence, and gender budgeting). These can, in turn, contribute to increasing public trust, reinforcing democracies and fostering inclusive growth (OECD, 2016[75]; 2017[77]) (OECD, 2017[77]).

Building on this understanding, this report aims to support the government of the Czech Republic’s priorities related to the achievement of its national gender equality objectives by strengthening the public administration’s capacity, including implementing Strategy 2021+. The following chapters review the strengths, challenges and opportunities of the current legal, strategic, institutional and accountability frameworks in the Czech Republic for gender equality policy as well as the use of gender-sensitive policymaking tools to promote gender equality outcomes. As such, and considering the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 crisis on women and girls, this report will also contribute to promoting an inclusive recovery pathway. The findings and recommendations presented in the report aim to contribute to the strengthened implementation of Strategy 2021+ through improved institutional design, greater capacity for gender analysis and enhanced awareness in central government and line ministries over the short and medium term as well as improved integration of gender equality in the design and implementation of public policies and budget cycles in the long term.

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Notes

← 1. For a discussion on this impact of the EU funding eligibility rules, see https://www.science.org/content/article/it-s-really-about-changing-system-new-gender-equality-rules-take-effect-europe.

← 2. Employment protected parental leave in the Czech Republic can be claimed until the child reaches the age of three. Each family is entitled to a total of CZK 300 000 in payments and can decide which parent receives the payment, for how long (at maximum, until the child turns four years of age) and in what amount. However, if at least one of the parents has sickness insurance, the maximum monthly benefit cannot exceed 70% of 30 times the daily assessment base, with a maximum of CZK 42 720. Parents can continue to claim the maximum possible amount until their total allowance of CZK 300 000 is exhausted.

← 3. See OECD (2021[51]) for more specific information on the classification of OECD countries according to the state of teleworking regulation in 2020.

← 4. For further information, see (Logib, n.d.[78]), https://www.logib.admin.ch/home.

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