Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 2009, 10 (2): 29-41

Career Breaks for the Purpose of Childcare and the Perception of Their Consequences

Marie Valentová

The article aims to analyse the consequences that interrupting labour market participation for the purpose of childcare has on the careers of Czech women. The analysis is conducted in two steps. In the first step the author examines patterns of employment breaks for childcare between different groups of women, in particular between women who had their children before and those who had them after the fall of the socialist regime. In the second step, the author explores how Czech women perceive the consequences of these career breaks and what socio-economic factors affect the perceptions of women. The analyses are based on the ESS data from 2004. The outcome of the analyses suggests that women who had at least one child after 1989 are more likely to interrupt their career for longer periods of time than women who gave birth before 1989. At the same time, these women report that employment breaks had more negative consequences on their career compared to women who had children before the fall of the socialist regime.

Keywords: employment breaks, reconciliation of family and paid work, childcare

Published: June 1, 2009Show citation