The article describes Czech women's civic organising focused on gender equality and women's rights since the Second World War and explains its character and development in the context of a) the state socialist regime, b) the impact of foreign and international donors on Czech women's civic organising during the socio-economic and political transformation of the first part of the 1990s, and c) the current process of the formalisation of Czech women's civic groups brought about by the Czech Republic's preparation for EU accession. The formalisation of women's civic groups is a process that consists of project-orien-tation, reform-orientation and the professionalisation of women's civic groups. In the era when the funding of women's civic groups has changed (as a result of EU Eastern enlargement) and the range of national political actors engaged in promoting gender equality has broadened (owing to pressure from the EU), these processes have brought about a shifts in the topics, activities, partnerships and strategies of Czech women's civic groups. These processes have contributed on the one hand to the marginalisation of those topics, activities and strategies previously addressed by some of Czech women's civic groups that do not fit in with the mainstream topics, activities and strategies defined by the EU (and by the EU influenced state). At the same time, however, some channels for having an impact on national decision-making processes have opened up to specific women's civic groups. EU Eastern enlargement paradoxically led to the orientation of women's civic groups towards national rather than supranational lobbying.
The article focuses on changes in availability and use of childcare and pre-school facilities after the Second World War in the Czech society during different periods of communist regime and during the post-1989 era. It studies how they are embedded in context of women's participation on the labour market, gender roles, social policies, fertility rates, public debates on care and fears of population decline. Several discourses influencing the availability and use of childcare and pre-school facilities are identified in the history, e.g. ''the women's issue'' discourse supporting construction of nurseries since 1950s, ''the children's issue'' and ''the population'' discourses contributing to several prolongations of paid childcare leave since 1960s, etc. In history based institutional settings are identified as the main factors leading in a new labour market context to a current drop in availability of nurseries and an increase in care of pre-kindergarten children by mothers at home.
The article is based on comparative analysis of data from the international longitudinal survey ISSP 1994 and 2002 which were focused on gender roles and family. In the analysis European countries were divided on the basis of their inhabitants´ opinions on gender roles in the family and working mothers. Even though employment rate of women in Eastern Europe was higher during the state socialist regime than in Western Europe, countries of the former Eastern European block formed a group with traditional (conservative) attitudes towards gender roles as well as working mothers in 1994 and in 2002. Attitudes to mother's employment turned more gender liberal during the late 1990s. Such conservatism as well as opinion shifts and changes in family behavior in the second half of 1990s are explained by specific socio-political changes and changes on the labor market on the specific case of the Czech Republic.
In this article the authors examine the forms and experiences of insecure and precarious work by Czech women caring for a child or a dependent family member. The results of a quantitative survey indicate that the share of caring women performing precarious work increased during the economic crisis. A secondary analysis of interviews conducted in 2006–2013 with women caring for a child or another family member offered insight into the forms precarious work can take and the ways women feel about this kind of work and why. It also demonstrated in what way, based on the capability approach, their explanations provide a better understanding of the nature and extent of precarious work among women with care responsibilities. We found that the ways caring women view ad-hoc work fit along a continuum, ranging from an optimal temporary strategy, to a temporary solution in the absence of other options, and finally to feelings of being caught in a precarious work trap. This continuum can be extrapolated into a kind of ‘collective story’: a woman first ‘chooses’ ad-hoc work as a temporary strategy to get a job; if her life conditions are difficult she must continue to perform such work against her preferences; after a long period of economic inactivity or of performing just temporary work, the woman is ultimately unable to find any secure form of employment, even if she is no longer restricted by care responsibilities – she ends up trapped in precarious work. and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The author analyzes the influence of the EU enlargement on women's and feminist NGOs and women's groups in the Czech Republic. She identifies main proceeding changes in non-governmental sphere and civic mobilization which are analyzed as consequences of Czech Republic's accession to the EU. Namely she discuss processes of professionalization - hence establishment of professional women's and feminist NGOs and development of political lobby; processes of developing of project-orientation - it reflects the necessity to apply for grants largely in EU to finance operation of organizations. Finally she identifies processes of acceptation of reform-orientation of women's NGOs in the Czech Republic - which means orientation on mainstream issues that are encouraged by EU policies. As a result of these changes some small and marginal NGOs disappeared and others were determined to make strategic partnership across the thematic focus.