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2003:9 Women’s Civic and Political Participation in the Czech Republic and the Role of European Union Gender Equality and Accession Policies |
Hana Hašková, Alena Křížková, eds. |
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This volume of Sociological Papers delivers a report on the political and civic participation of women and the representation of their interests in Czech society as part of the processes of democratisation and the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union.
In the first part of the publication the authors look at the degree to which women and women’s interests are represented within the framework of the governmental institutions and civic organisations and activities which take part in the process of political decision-making in democratic societies. The greatest attention is devoted to the representation of women and the assertion of their interests as part of governmental, parliamentary and party policy within the NGO sector, with an emphasis on the period after 1989. In addition, the current degree of women’s participation, as well as the measures intended to strengthen the representation of women’s interests in decision-making processes, are observed on the level of local politics, in trade unions, and in the judiciary.
In the second part of the publication, the insufficient degree of political and civic participation by women in Czech society is examined from the perspective of gender equality and EU enlargement as two of the most important issues in EU policy. Here the Czech Republic is an example entered into the analysis through the documents relating to the country’s entry into the EU that emerged out of the negotiation process. A discourse analysis of the policy documents pinpoints those meanings that can be ascribed to the gender equality policies and general documentation of the European Union, and from the perspective of gender issues a comparison is made of the documents that were used for the purpose of communication between the Czech Republic and the EU during the process of bringing Czech legislation into alignment with that of the EU.
Summary
The authors of this volume of Sociological Papers look at the political and civic participation of women and the representation of their interests in Czech society as part of the processes of democratisation and accession of the CR to the EU. In the first section of the publication, “Patterns and Strategies of Women’s Civil and Political Participation in the Czech Republic”, an examination is made of the degree to which women and women’s interests are represented within the framework of the formal political structures and in the civic non-governmental sector, thus in institutions which in democratic societies are engaged in the process of political decision-making.
In the first chapters of this volume of Sociological Papers, Petra Rakušanová and Lenka Václavíková-Helšusová map the representation of women in government, parliament, and political parties, and on the level of regional politics. Primary emphasis is at the same time placed on documenting and explaining the decline in the participation of women in parliamentary politics after 1989 in all the post-communist countries of Central Europe. Further, attention is devoted to a phenomenon in evidence in all European countries, which is the reduction in the share of women in higher positions on the political stage. In addition to this, the discussion is also turned to a situation typical both in regional and parliamentary politics, which is that women as election candidates achieve systematically fewer successes in the elections than men. For this reason the text includes a discussion of the effectiveness of quotas, which, particularly before 1989, but also even later, could be characterised more as a symbolic measure.
Unlike the relatively limited representation of women on the level of parliamentary politics, and even among the management of regional political institutions, there exists in the Czech Republic, as in other post-communist countries of Central Europe, a relatively strong degree of representation of women in higher bodies within the judiciary sphere. However, the analysis by Alena Křížková reveals that even here they are least concentrated particularly in those positions with the highest remuneration.
The representation and assertion of women’s interests within the framework of trade union organisations is the subject of attention in the analyses by Hana Hašková and Petra Rekušanová. After 1989 there occurred a decline in trade-union participation both among men and women. A weakening of employee benefits occurred primarily in feminised sectors of the labour market. While employees are on the whole satisfied with the way in which trade unions defend their interests, the issues of gender discrimination, gender equality for men and women, and equal opportunities for men and women were opened up to a greater degree within the trade unions only at the end of the 1990s, in connection with the need to align Czech legislation with that of the EU. An independent body devoted specifically to gender issues within the trade union structure was not founded until 2002.
Similarly, although the pressure of the negotiations over the Czech Republic’s entry into the EU gave rise to a policy of “gender mainstreaming”, which was introduced as the main instrument of equal opportunity for men and women, we continue to witness significant differences between the individual state institutions, which are required to implement this policy both with regard to any real steps taken by them and in terms of their conception of the importance of this policy. At the end of the first section of this volume Hana Hašková and Marta Kolářová trace the evolution of women’s civic participation in the Czech Republic. The current civic activities in which women are engaged cover a broad ideological and thematic spectrum, and although many of them supplement the activities of educational and state institutions, aiming at both the education and enlightenment of the public and at helping specific groups of women, their problem remains the low level of support on the part of state institutions and the public, the related lack of sufficient financial means, and primarily the insufficient influence they have on the social mechanisms that maintain the current state of gender inequalities.
In addition to the activities and problems centred on women in which non-profit organisations are engaged, Hana Hašková and Marta Kolářová also look at the activities of a number of small groups of women, particularly socialist and anarchist women’s groups, which take a critical stance towards and distance themselves from women’s non-profit organisations and feminist activities within the academic sphere. These activities in the academic environment and in the environment of the NGO sector were considerably interconnected (and to a certain degree remain so) especially during their formation period in the early 1990s, while it was only in the second half of the 1990s that the small socialist and anarchist women’s groups began to emerge.
In the second part of the publication, “Policy Initiatives and Tools to Promote Women’s Participation and Gender Equality in the Process of the Czech Republic’s Accession to the European Union”, Dagmar Lorenz-Meyer analyses a range of documents on gender equality and enlargement which were issued by the EU and Czech state institutions between 1998 and 2002. She investigates what ideas and representations cluster around them and what meanings are mobilised in specific contexts, and argues that a good understanding of how concepts and policy tools are described and applied in these two policy areas is indispensable for the critical assessment of the existing and new policy tools that aim at promoting women’s equal participation. Particular emphasis is put on the variety and, sometimes, the inconsistencies of meaning of gender equality, and on the efforts to compartmentalise, isolate and contain critical and potentially transformative elements. Ultimately, such knowledge is necessary for ensuring the applicability and efficiency of gender equality policies. The analysis of EU gender equality and enlargement documents shows that policy concepts of EU gender equality are routinely under-defined and that there remain decisive conceptual gaps in EU conceptualisations of these terms. The conclusion that emerged out of the comparison of EU and Czech policy documents on gender equality in enlargement is that, despite the expertise and funding available to EU bodies, the Commission documents are not necessarily of better quality with respect to the persistent under-defining of key concepts, the lack of progress indicators, vague guidelines and a lack of political will. Perhaps the decisive difference is that critical bodies are part of the EU structure itself and can voice their criticism. This seems to be absent in the CR.
Key words
women’s political participation; women in the judiciary; women in trade unions; women’s civic participation; women’s non-governmental organizations; equal opportunities for men and women; equal treatment; quotas; EU gender equality policies; EU enlargement and gender equality; equality legislation and the Czech accession to the EU.
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Women’s Civic and Political Participation in the Czech Republic and the Role of European Union Gender Equality and Accession Policies |
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2009:1 The First Elections to the Senate. An Analysis of the 1996 Elections to the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic |
2008:5 The Perception and Construction of Social Distance in Czech Society |
2008:4 Social Distances and Stratification: Social Space in the Czech Republic |
2008:3 Evolution and Determination of Educational Inequalities in the Czech Republic between 1955 and 2002 in the European Context |
2008:2 Actors of Local Development - Orlicko |
2008:1 The Political Awareness of Citizens: Theories, Measurements and the Role of Political Awareness in the Study of Political Attitudes |
2007:11 A Permanent or Temporary Change? The Arrangement of Gender Roles in Families with Fathers Participating in Childcare |
2007:10 Participation and Partnership in Local Public Administration |
2007:9 Family Friendly Working Conditions in an International Comparison |
2007:8 The Political Impact of Suburbanisation |
2007:7 Fathers, Mothers and Caring for Children after Divorce |
2007:6 The Foreign Migration of Scientists and Researchers and the Tools for Influencing Migration |
2007:5 The Representation of Different Forms of Family and Working Life in Women’s and Men’s Magazines |
2007:4 Czech Labour Market: Changing Structures and Work Orientations |
2007:3 The Relationship between Changes in the Labour Market and Private, Family and Partnership Life |
2007:2 The Institutional Background of Czech Sociology before the Onset of Marxism |
2007:1 Educational Aspirations in a Comparative Perspective. The role of individual, contextual and structural factors in the formation of educational aspirations in OECD countries |
2006:14 Work and Family Roles and How They Are Combined in the Lives of Czech Parents: Plans versus Reality |
2006:13 The Representation of Parenthood and Childlessness in Selected Women’s and Men’s Magazines |
2006:12 Social Solidarity from the Perspective of the Czech Public |
2006:11 Science as a public matter: science policies and the media |
2006:10 The Issue of Minorities in the Czech Republic: Community Life and the Representation of Collective Interests (Slovaks, Ukrainians, Vietnamese, and Roma) |
2006:9 Social Standing and Lifestyle in Czech Society |
2006:8 The Image of Science in Czech Public Opinion |
2006:7 Social Capital. Concepts, Theories, and Methods of Measurement |
2006:6 Basic Features of the Membership Base of KDU-ČSL |
2006:5 Non-Marital Fertility in the Czech Republic after 1989: The Social and Economic Context |
2006:4 The Phenomenon of Childlessness in a Sociological and Demographic Perspective |
2006:3 Participation, Democracy and Citizenship in a European Context |
2006:2 Autonomy and Cooperation: Effect of the Municipal System Established in 1990 |
2006:1 Socio-economic Values, Policies, and Institutions in the Period of the Czech Republic’s Accession to the European Union |
2005:06 Civil Society in the Regions of the Czech Republic |
2005:05 Civil Society and Civic Participation in the Czech Republic |
2005:04 Work/Life Balance in the Czech Republic: Policy, Time, Money, and Individual, Family, and Company Practices |
2005:03 Regional Elites 2004 |
2005:02 Political Behavior in Metropolitan Areas in the Czech Republic between 1990 and 2002 – Patterns, Trends and the Relation to Suburbanization and Its Socio-Spatial Patterns |
2005:01 Measuring Value Orientations with the Use of S.H. Schwartz’s Value Portraits |
2004:11 The Formation of Group Mentalities in the Czech Republic after 1989 |
2004:10 Hierarchy as the Strength and the Weakness of Communist Rule. The Legacy of Communist Rule IV: A Volume of Papers from the Seminar Held in Prague on September 11-12, 2003 |
2004:9 Czech National Identity after the Break Up Czechoslovakia and before Accession to the European Union |
2004:8 Life Strategies of Businesswomen and Businessmen at the Turn of the Millennium |
2004:7 Attitudes towards Marriage, Parenthood and Family Roles in the Czech Republic and in Europe |
2004:6 Life Satisfaction: Family,Work, and Other Factors |
2004:5 What Faith? Contemporary Czech Religiosity/Spirituality in the Perspective of Qualitative Sociology of Religion |
2004:4 Structural Tensions in the Interface between the Labour Market and Social Policy in the Czech Republic |
2004:3 Metropolitan Areas in the Czech Republic – Definitions, Basic Characteristics, Patterns of Suburbanisation and Their Impact on Political Behaviour |
2004:2 International Violence Against Women Survey – Czech Republic/2003: Sociological Research on Domestic Violence |
2004:1 Elections to the European Parliament in 2004 – An Analysis of Electoral Participation and Party Support in the Czech Republic |
2003:12 Hierarchy as a Strength and Weakness of Communist Rule |
2003:11 How the Czech Public Views the Elites the Political and Economic Elites |
2003:10 The Reconstruction of Communist Rule at the End of the 1980s |
2003:9 Women’s Civic and Political Participation in the Czech Republic and the Role of European Union Gender Equality and Accession Policies |
2003:8 Pre-election polls, election results, and validity of measurement before the 2002 elections |
2003:7 Party Preference Surveys, Their Application in Society and the Issue of Quality |
2003:6 The Transformations of Czech Socio-economic Values at the Turn of the Century |
2003:5 Objective and Subjective Assessments of the Financial Accessibility of Housing in the Czech Republic during the 1990s |
2003:4 Entry into Marriage and Unmarried Cohabitation in the Czech Republic since 1989 in Connection with Education |
2003:3 Work and Job Values in CEE and EU countries |
2003:2 Intergenerational Biographic Configurations of the Inhabitants of the NISA Euroregion |
2003:1 Structurally Generated Growth of Inequality |
2002:13 Public Opinion Surveys – Theoretical Aspects and Practical Application |
2002:12 Group Mentalities |
2002:11 The World of Hierarchies and Real Socialism. The legacy of communist rule II: volume of contributions investigating of social hierarchies |
2002:10 Social Context of the Lives of Women Working in Management Positions |
2002:09 Parties in the Parliament. Why, When and How do Parties act in Unity? |
2002:08 Life strategies of women managers: case study |
2002:07 Region and Politics |
2002:06 The World of Hierarchies and Really Existing Socialism |
2002:05 Housing Careers in the Czech Republic 1960 - 2001 |
2002:04 Re-emigrants and Socially Shared Values |
2002:03 Satisfaction with Housing among the Czech Population |
2002:02 The Family Origin on the Evolution of Educational Inequalities in the Czech Republic after 1989 |
2002:01 The Rise and Evolution of the New Elites in the Czech Republic (from the end of the 1980´s to the spring of 2002) |
2001:12 Who´s afraid of Hierarchies? The Legacy of the Communist Government |
2001:11 11th September. International On-line Communication Research |
2001:10 Fertility and Family Differentiation in Europe |
2001:09 The rise or decline of political regionalism? Changes of voting patterns in period 1992 to 1998 - the comparison of the Czech Republic and Slovakia |
2001:08 Cross-cutting Cleavages in the Czech Republic. A Comparison of the National Level with a Specific Regional Example |
2001:07 Roma Issues: An Obstacle to Entry of the Czech Republic into the European Union? |
2001:06 ISSP- The Environment |
2001:05 Distribution of Earnings and Income in Transitional Czech Republic |
2001:04 The Bearers of Development of the Cross-Border Community on Czech-German Border |
2001:03 Rent Subsidies in the Czech Republic: A Comparison of Selected Models |
2001:02 The Role Of Political, Social and Cultural Capital in Secondary School Selection in Socialist Czechoslovakia, 1948-1989 |
2001:01 Income maintenance policies, houshold characteristics and work incentives in the Czech republic |
2000:07 Work and Family Experience of Young Female Doctors |
2000:06 Development of the Czech Social Structure in the Years 1988-1999 |
2000:05 Party identifikation in the Czech republic |
2000:04 What makes inequalities legitimate? An International Comparison |
2000:03 Religion and Supernature in Society |
2000:02 Transformation and Modernization of Society on Examples of Selected Institutions |
2000:01 The Housing Policy Changes and Housing Expenditures in the Czech Republic |
1999:11 Geografic Analysis of the Czech Republic Borderland. |
1999:10 Rise and Decline of Right-Wing Extremism in the Czech Republic in the 1990s. |
1999:09 Perceived and fair inequalities: development in the nineties and further coherences |
1999:08 The Czechoslovak citizens' attitudes towards democracy in 1968 |
1999:07 The Czech Middletown Citizens |
1999:06 A Man in a Family – Democratisation of Private Sphere |
1999:05 Development of the Policy of Equal Opportunities of Men and Women in the Czech Republic within the European Integration Context |
1999:04 Actors of Over-frontier Community Development in the Czech - German Borderland |
1999:03 Acquaintances of Local Political Leaders |
1999:02 Housing Market, its Regional Differences and Relations to Social Structure |
1999:01 The Fluctuation of Public Opinion between Years 1990 and 1998 |
1998:06 Modernizační kontext transformace, strukturní a institucionální aspekty |
1998:05 Deputies of the First Czech Parliament (1992-1996) |
1998:04 |
1998:03 Transformation of Czech Family |
1998:02 Results of a Czech-Slovak Comparison: Actors of Social Transformation and Modernisation. Attitudes of Individuals an Institutions to Social Transformation |
1998:01 Trh s bydlením a jeho sociální souvislosti - situace v Praze a Brně |
1997:08 The Family and Change of Gender Roles |
1997:07 The territorial dimension of public administration reforms in East Central Europe |
1997:06 Czech Women in the Labor Market Work and Family in a Transition Economy |
1997:05 |
1997:04 Mass Privatization, Distributive Politics, and Popular Support for Reform in the Czech Republic |
1997:03 |
1997:02 |
1997:01 Political, Organizational and Policy Transformation at the Municipal Level: The Case of Liberec |
1996:12 Osidlování českého pohraničí od května 1945 |
1996:11 Individuální kontakty obyvatel na česko-německé hranici |
1996:10 Socio-Economic Changes in the Czech Republic with an Appendix concerning the 1996 Elections´ Results |
1996:09 Národní identita |
1996:08 Politics, Skills and Industrial Restructuring. Introductory Findings on Local Institutions of Human Resources Development in Czech Machinery Indrustry |
1996:07 Subjective Mobility and Perception of Life Chances in Eastern Europe. Empirical evidence against a Marxist view of relationships between subjective and objective mobility |
1996:06 Zpráva o vývoji sociální struktury české a slovenské společnosti 1945-1993 |
1996:05 Tripartita jako model prostředkování zájmů v politickém systému České republiky |
1996:04 Národnostní a etnické vztahy v českém pohraničí - obraz Čecha, Němce, Rakušana a Roma ve vědomí obyvatel |
1996:03 The Making of Post-Communist Elites in Eastern Europe. A comparison of political and economic elites in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland |
1996:02 Sudetoněmecká otázka v názorech a postojích obyvatel českého pohraničí |
1996:01 Demografické chování obyvatelstva České republiky během přeměny společnosti po roce 1989 |
1995:08 Česká republika v roce 1994. Politická ročenka |
1995:07 Problém normativity a policejní represe v předlistopadovém Československu |
1995:06 Industriální vztahy a sociálně politické orientace českých dělníků a manažerů |
1995:05 Rozdíly v chování regionálních populací a jejich příčiny |
1995:04 Women, Work and Society |
1995:03 Trh práce a jeho potenciál |
1995:02 Etnické a národnostní vztahy v pánevní oblasti severních Čech (s důrazem na romskou problematiku) |
1995:01 In Search of Explanations for Recent Left-Turns in Post-Communist Coutries |
1994:09 Česká republika v roce 1993. Politická ročenka |
1994:08 Large-Scale Privatization: Social Conflict and Consensus |
1994:07 Economic Inequalities Old and New: The Czech Case |
1994:06 Prostředky kauzálního modelování v sociologii. Shrnující pojednání o postupech a přehled základních pojmů |
1994:05 Regionální diferenciace sociálních problémů v České republice |
1994:04 A Historical Comparison of Social Structures in the Czech Republic in 1984 and 1993 |
1994:03 Přeshraniční souvislosti sociálních změn v oblasti české části euroregionu Chebsko |
1994:02 Social and Political Transformation in the Czech Republic |
1994:01 Lotus Organizátor. Uživatelská příručka |
1993:09 Sociální a mzdové problémy zaměstnanců malých a středních soukromých podniků |
1993:08 Sociální postavení rodiny jako základního činitele a adresáta sociální pomoci |
1993:07 Changing Conditions - Changing Values? Changes in the position and perception of education during the post-communist transformation: the case of the Czech Republic |
1993:06 Perceptions of Justice. Principles of Distributive Justice in Comparative Perspective |
1993:04 Revolution for Whom? Analysis of selected patterns of intragenerational mobility in the Czech Republic |
1993:04 Revolution for Whom? Analysis of selected patterns of intragenerational mobility in the Czech Republic |
1993:03 RODINA ´89. Determinanty ekonomického úspěchu v první fázi postkomunistické transformace. Česká republika 1989-1992 |
1993:02 RODINA '89. Determinanty ekonomického úspěchu v první fázi post-komunistické transformace. Česká republika 1989-1992 |
1993:01 Microsoft Word verze 5.5. Uživatelská příručka |
1992:09 Historical Comparison of Social Stratification Types in Czechoslovakia 1967-1991 |
1992:08 Rodina '89. Úloha mentálních schopností a sociálního původu ve formování vzdělanostních aspirací |
1992:07 The Zero Generation of Small Business Owners in Czechoslovakia |
1992:06 Time Use of Small Business Owners. Results and Methodological Comments |
1992:05 Perception of Changing Inequality in Czechoslovakia |
1992:04 Vybrané kapitoly z uživatelské příručky Microsoft Word verze 5.0 |
1992:03 Politické strany a hnutí v Československu |
1992:02 Politische Partien und Bewegungen in der Tschechoslowakei |
Prague in the New Central Europe. International conference 2-4 June 1990 |
1991:09 Vybrané kapitoly z uživatelské příručky Microsoft Word verze 5.0 |
1991:08 Nultá podnikatelská generace |
1991:07 Rodina '89. Zdroje vzdělanostních nerovností |
1991:06 Hodnotové orientace československé mužské mládeže a jejich vztah k obraně vlasti |
1991:05 Gender and the Employment of Higher Education Graduates in Czechoslovakia |
1991:04 Územní vztahy, územní a státoprávní uspořádání České republiky v názorech obyvatel |
1991:03 Social Problems of Participation in the Changing Czechoslovak Economy |
1991:02 K postavení žen v československé společnosti |
1991:01 Socialist Czechoslovakia - System Error and Premises for Change |
1990:06 Názory na rozvoj soukromého podnikání |
1990:05 Growing interest in informal work - consequences for time use research. XIIth World Congress of Sociology, Madrid 1990, Thematic Group 1, Time Use Research |
1990:04 Value-satisfaction Model and the Value of Innovation |
1990:03 Who Gains and Who Loses in a Socialist Redistribution |
1990:02 Ženy a volby '90 |
1990:01 Beyond Educational Inequality in Czechoslovakia |
1989:02 Československá varianta Mezinárodní standardní klasifikace zaměstnání (ISCO) |
1989:01 Family Effect on Educational Attainment in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and the Netherlands |
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