Even men have had enough. What is happening in the Czech Republic is completely distorted, says Lauder

“When it comes to taking care of the household and children, the Czech Republic is skewed at one end,” says a journalist for the weekly Respekt about the fact that the Czech Republic is worse off than most of Europe according to the gender equality index. According to the journalist, this was not always the case, but in other countries of the European Union, things simply change much faster than in the Czech Republic. “For us, the change is not so significant,” he points out.

Spotlight Aktuálně.cz – Silvie Lauder | Video: Jakub Zuzánek

“In the Czech Republic, there is still a very strong belief that women are primarily responsible for taking care of children and the household,” Lauder explains, explaining one of the reasons why the Czech Republic has, in the index published by the European Institute for Gender Equality, worsened. It is because of this attitude that women are strongly disadvantaged in the labor market.

“This is called the penalization of motherhood. It means that the position of women on the labor market is very significantly affected by the fact that they are mothers – but not only by the fact that they are actually mothers, women are disadvantaged even before they become mothers,” the journalist points out. according to which such an approach completely ignores the fact that some women cannot, do not want or plan to have children until later in life.

Lauder also points out that the biggest differences in pay between men and women are among college-educated people. “For women, the assumption that education works as a social elevator and a guaranteed path to better earnings does not apply,” she describes the situation and claims that even the more educated women are, the greater the difference in salary from their male colleagues.

The journalist of the weekly Respekt also adds that the stereotypical perception of gender roles in society does not only affect women and is increasingly a big topic for men as well.

“A lot of men are not comfortable with the situation where they are reduced to a ‘cashier’, who is primarily responsible for economic income,” adds another argument to the fact that the labor market system should go more against it, so that it is possible to better combine work with parenthood .