Prague, March 11 (CTK) – Seven out of ten mothers of small children in the Czech Republic say the inability to work part-time is the major obstacle to their smooth return to work after parental leave, according to a poll the Business for Society organisation has released.
The poll was conducted on 436 mothers on maternal or parental leave.
Two fifths of them said they did not return to their original job after parental leave because of their employer’s unwillingness or because their position was abolished.
“Unemployment in the Czech Republic is at a record low [of 5.1 percent in February], yet the Czech Republic has the biggest number of mothers with children under six years of age outside the labour market. This deprives society of a big potential. This also has long-term impacts, which concern women’s remuneration, their representation in the management of institutions and their pensions,” said Pavlina Kalousova, Business for Society chairwoman.
Vojtech Krebs, pro-dean of the Faculty of Economics of University of Economics in Prague, said employment of women aged 20 to 40 years has been steeply decreasing. When they have children, it slumps by 40 percent, compared to the EU average of 10 percent.
After the Czech Republic, the worst situation is in Hungary and Slovakia, where the slump is 30 percent.
Krebs said the reasons for the low employment of mothers include the traditional perception of roles in the family – man the breadwinner, the woman the housewife.
The relatively high level of the parental allowance, the long parental leave and the shortage of creches and nurseries, Krebs said.
He said only a fraction of men take parental leave.
Business for Society also surveyed 36 larger employers. They said 35 percent of mothers returned to work after two to three years, 30 percent after more than three years and 17 percent wanted to return after less than one year.
Three quarters of the firms questioned said women can work part-time for them and 63 percent make it possible for women to work from home.
One fifth of the firms contribute to kindergarten fees.
Some of the firms offer equal opportunities to fathers, according to the poll.
