Work-life balance is a popular topic both in European and gradually also Czech sociology and in European strategies for employment and for dealing with population ageing. The article explores the topic of work-life balance from a theoretical perspective, in the context of contemporary European and world sociology, and from an empirical perspective, on the basis of a representative sociological survey of a population of parents conducted in 2005. The hypothesis of the pressure people experience to combine work and a family and gendered culture (Van der Lippe, Jager, Kops 2006), which puts the Czech Republic in the ranks of not very progressive countries in terms of gender equality, is verified in this survey, because, even though the majority of parents claimed that they are able to combine work and a family, there are nonetheless clear structural obstacles stemming from the design of public policies and institutions, which obstruct this balance. The Czech labour market is not parent or family-friendly, and parenthood (especially motherhood) is a handicap in the Czech labour market. Work-life balance is not the subject of any public or political discussion, and consequently Czech parents do not usually have a comprehensive view of the problem and regard it as serious. Mothers and fathers know that combining work and family is the reality of their lives and at the same time a private problem that they try to solve by means of various strategies.