Platform for networking, inspiring and mobilising Czech women.
The Women’s Congress is a non-profit network of organizations, institutions and individuals from non-profits, the academia, the art world, public and private sectors.
The Women’s Congress aims to create a permanent platform to:
The Women’s Congress is a non-partisan association, and its activities are not aligned with any political party.
Following the great success of the first Czech Women’s Congress, we organized the second Czech Women’s Congress which took place in the National House of Vinohrady on June 20, 2015.
In this Congress, “Women and Media” was the main theme. We believe women are often being portrayed in the media with use of sexism and prejudice, and that this has a significant impact on women’s status in society as a whole, and not just the Czech Republic. We focused on the cause and effect of media portrayal of women, and its connection to theunderrepresentation of women in the highest decision-making positions in media worldwide.
Congress brought together up to 1000 women, as well as men, from diverse range of nationalities, professions, ages and political backgrounds. All-day program of the Congress offered various debates and seminars devoted to the main theme: sexism in media; women and social media; women in decision making in media. Creative workshops were focused on soft-skills development: coaching; mentoring; rhetoric; presentation skills or presentation in media. Fair of NGOs, organizations, institutions and companies dealing with the issue of equality between women and men.
Cultural program included activities for kids and music program full of women-artists and was held on Náměstí Míru. As a part of the supporting program, a successful movie “Miss Representation” was screened at the Cinema Světozor and was falllowed by discusion.
Most important outcomes of the Women’s Congress, formulated into resolutions, was handed over to the political representation of the Czech Republic.
1. LANGUAGE IS POWERFUL, LET’S USE IT IN A GENDER SENSITIVE MANNER
Generic masculine … Why when speaking about women?
2. LET’S FIGHT STEREOTYPES
It’s simple: If I were a man, would you ask me the same question? Try something different!
3. LET’S DEMAND BALANCED REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN AND MEN IN DISCUSSION PROGRAMMES
Are you organizing a debate, writing an article, inviting guests for a programme? Balance = diversity.
4. LET’S INSIST ON GENDER BALANCE IN REGULATORY BODIES
Quotas, quotas, quotas … they do work, actually.
5. WIN MORE WOMEN FOR LEADERSHIP POSITIONS IN THE MEDIA
Society consists of 50% of women and 50% of men; so why are there almost no women in leadership positions in the media?
6. LET’S CREATE FAMILY FRIENDLY WORK ENVIRONMENTS
Shared work positions, part-time work, homeworking … Why should it not work in the media?
7. SAY NO TO PRODUCTS SOLD THROUGH SEXIST ADVERTISING
Sexist advertising? No, thanks.
8. LET’S SUPPORT DIVERSITY ON SCREEN AND ON AIR
Age, sex, orientation, ethnicity, race … Diversity belongs on screen as well as in everyday life.
9. LET’S NOT DIVIDE THE WORLD INTO MEN’S AND WOMEN’S WORLDS, THERE’S JUST ONE
There is only one common world. Let’s behave that way.
10. WOMEN, LET’S COOPERATE!
Feminism isn’t a swearword!
Women represent:
51 % of the total population (men 49 %)
61 % of university graduates (men 39 %)
8.9 % of the unemployed between the ages of 30 and 34 (men 4.3 %)
61 % of those in judicial roles (men 39 %)
9 % of those in judicial roles in the highest court of the Czech Republic (men 81 %)
0 % of members in 85 percent of the boards of directors of the 60 biggest organisations in the Czech Republic
22 % of members in the Parliament of the Czech Republic
18.8 % of members of Czech government
26 % of municipal representatives in Czech towns and villages
(sources: Czech Statistical Office, McKinsey&Company)
Facts about women in the labour market in the Czech Republic
Between the ages of 15 – 64, only 56 % of women are in paid work (Norway 73 %, Germany 66 %, Estonia 61 %, Poland 53 %).
In the Czech Republic, there are fewer employed women with small children between the ages of 0 and 6 than in all other EU states.
Less than 40 % of women, compared to nearly 95 % of men with two children are employed (across the EU the ratio is 65 : 91). Compared to all other EU countries, only a small percentage of the Czech Republic‘s working population are employed part time (2 % of employed men, 9 % of employed women).
At the same time, just over 30 % of all employed women in the EU are engaged in part time work (approximately 8% of employed men).
Women earn an average of a quarter less than men (the average monthly wage paid to women is 22 666 CZK, to men 30 192 CZK), and they are minimally represented in managerial roles and in the business world.
Research done by McKinsey & Company evaluating the potential of women in the Czech economy shows that on the management boards of the 60 biggest companies in the Czech Republic women represent only 4 % on boards of directors, and in 85 % of these companies there is no woman on directory boards at all.
For these reasons, women are generally more at risk of poverty than men.
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