The status of men and women in society, women's rights, family policy – these topics have been the agenda of former Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Michaela Marksová for the past three years. She publishes articles, appears in the media, and even deals with these matters in her professional life now.
Czechia has celebrated International Women's Day this year more intensely than before. Does this holiday still hold significance despite having been degraded by the communist regime in the past?
It absolutely does! This holiday was established at the break of the 20th century to fight for equal rights for women – at the time, the focus was on equal working conditions and wages with men, and the right to vote and study at university. Subsequently, in 1975, the UN recognized International Women's Day and the 8th of March as an official holiday. Nowadays, events bringing attention to areas where the status of women still isn't equal to that of men are organized to commemorate the holiday in various countries all over the world. Areas such as violence against women, the gender pay gap, or inadequate conditions for working mothers. It also serves as an opportunity to remember the history of women's struggle for emancipation.
How does Czechia compare to European countries in women's rights? Is it an area where we still trend more towards Eastern Europe?
As far as equality between men and women in various areas is concerned, I don't think that the division into East and West always applies. Nonetheless, Czechia is one of the worst countries in Europe as evidenced by the EU's Gender Equality Index. We are only trailed by Hungary and Romania out of all the member states. Our inability to fully leverage women's potential, especially in our labor market, has been criticized by the government's National Economic Council (NERV). It means our economy is losing out on a lot of money.
I just recently got back from Japan, which is dealing with a major demographic crisis. Partly because a large number of young Japanese women don't want to have children. What does that speak to, in your opinion?
If I'm not mistaken, there is still a very traditional gender system in Japan as well as in South Korea, for instance. If a woman is single, she is free to work and be independent. However, as soon as she gets married, she loses her independence – the conditions for balancing family and professional life are suboptimal there. Data from European countries clearly shows that women tend to not have children in places with bad conditions. And it is no wonder. Women today simply want both, work and family.
With Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Slovakia Rudolf Jindrák.
France just recently enshrined abortion rights in its constitution. Is it a crucial matter at a time when this operation is being performed less and less in developed Western countries?
It is, in my opinion. Falling abortion numbers are great news. This applies in Czechia as well where, coincidentally, the highest number of abortions are performed on women expecting their third child. But abortion rights are still assailed by conservative forces from time to time in an attempt to take them away from women. So, I can appreciate that the French decided to make sure they're safe.
We had a female German chancellor, women are now leading the European Commission and the European Parliament. Does this mean that the influence of women in high politics is on the rise?
It certainly is, but it depends on where you are. Here, it's at a snail's pace. In the aforementioned Index, which is comprised of various categories, Czechia came dead last in the “Power” category. We have eighteen ministers, only two of them female. That means 88 percent are men. And the Chamber, despite having a record number of women including the current speaker, is still 74 percent male.
After being a minister, you worked for the WOMEN FOR WOMEN organization, which was founded by Mr. and Mrs. Tykač. Last December, you became the director of the newly formed think tank SOLVO Institute, also founded by Mrs. Ivana Tykač. What are your goals?
SOLVO also means “to unlock” in Latin. We want to unlock potential at SOLVO Institute, in three specific areas: in women, because their potential is being underutilized in our society; in children, because developing their potential to the fullest is the best we can do for the future of our entire country; and in AI and new technologies, because they are having an increasing impact on us and our children, both negative and positive. We commissioned three surveys with the SCaC and Ipsos agencies. One was based around groups of women discussing what it's like to live in our society and how it makes them feel. The second one surveyed women as well as men on various questions related to the status of women and men in society. And the third one, which was very unique, surveyed children and their parents. All of them gave us a wide array of interesting findings and data. To not overwhelm, allow me to list just a few that I found most surprising:
- 56 percent of people – men and women – think that a man should work rather than take care of children. I don't see anything that a father couldn't do except give birth and breastfeed. If they take care of their children from an early age, they form a nice relationship with them. That's seemingly not the case in Czechia so far because:
- Children between the ages of 6 and 18 ranked their fathers fourth in terms of popularity, behind mothers, grandparents, and friends. That's extremely sad!
- Differences in visions for their future are becoming apparent between girls and boys as well. Girls are much more inclined to marry and have children, but more girls also want to study at university and go abroad. There are more girls than boys at universities today. But women then take extended maternity leaves and their careers run away from them, which is a massive, and truth be told outrageous, waste of potential and finances in our society. But – and this is another sad finding:
- More than half of our population considers it unusual for a mother to get back to work after spending six months on leave and having the father take parental leave instead. And the majority is also against shortening parental leave by a year. This is not the way to leverage women's potential, this requires a shift in people's thinking. Shorter parental leave is the norm abroad.
That's why we want to spread awareness, impact the wider public – women, to make sure they don't forget to work on themselves, their careers; but also men, to help them understand that children and the household are also their concern, and that if they want to have good relationships with their children, they need to actively work on them. We organize conferences and panel discussions with experts and officials from public administration and politics because they're the ones who can change the legislation. We also want to be involved in education because schools play a massive role in the lives of our children, and it's essential to make sure that they feel good there while also ensuring that the education system adapts to the ever-changing times we live in.
You used to be a prominent political figure in the ČSSD. SOCDEM is running in the European election with a very solid ticket. Why are you not higher up on the list?
To be honest, I'm rather tired of politics. So, I only agreed to fill out the bottom rungs of the ticket together with my colleagues to support SOCDEM. Fingers crossed!
The author is a European editor of Deník
CV BOX
Michaela Marksová (born March 20, 1969, in Prague) is a former minister of labor and social affairs.
She graduated in biology and mathematics from the Charles University Faculty of Science.
In the mid-1990s, she spent several years working as an editor for the Cosmopolitan. Between 1997 and 2004, she was the PR director at the non-profit Gender Studies. Later, she held the position of director of the Department of Family Policy at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and then went on to lead the Department of Equal Opportunity at the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports between 2009 and 2010.
Marksová has been a member of ČSSD (now SOCDEM) since 1997 and has spent three years as its vice-chair, starting in 2015. She was appointed as minister of labor and social affairs in January 2014 and remained in the position until December 2017. She was the first deputy minister of foreign affairs for a year in 2020. She then worked for the WOMEN FOR WOMEN organization and has now been the director of the newly- formed SOLVO Institute since last December.
She is married and has two daughters. She speaks English, German, and Russian. She unwinds best when tending her garden or caring for her plants at home, reading, and watching movies.
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