Prague, May 30 (CTK) – Gender segregation survives in the civil service in the Czech Republic, according to the annual report on equality of men and women for 2016, that will be debated by the government on Wednesday.
Women stay in lower position and the branches with lower salaries. A similar situation can be found in state-owned companies, the report said.
The individual offices could proceed to positive discrimination and increase women’s proportion, but they do not use the opportunity, the report said.
“The civil service still has a large degree of vertical gender segregation. There is still the rule that the representation of women grows top-down in the hierarchy of decision-making positions,” said the report, drafted by the Government Office.
There are three women in the government of Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD), the minister of labour and social affairs, the regional development minister and the education minister.
Out of the 106 posts of deputy ministers, women occupied 29 or 27 percent at the end of last year.
Women occupied 156 posts of directors at ministries, while there were 332 men. Women’s proportion was 32 percent and did not change as against 2015.
Ministerial departments were headed by 683 women and 894 men. In all, women accounted for 43 percent of heads of departments.
Women accounted for 40 percent of the diplomatic corps, while the figure stood at 34 percent in 2015.
The measures or positive discrimination are possible under the Labour Code. It says a step preventing or removing disadvantage over sex, race or other reason is no discrimination.
The report said as the ministries did not use the option in a targeted way, the representation of women at the posts of deputy ministers and directors remained low.
“It is still true that the higher the decision-making position, the lower the representation of women in the civil service,” the report said.
“Positive measures are not applied in the boards of state-run companies and joint-stock companies with the majority stake of the state either. In them, the representation of women is still very low,” it added.
There are more women in poorly-paid positions and economic branches such as the health care and social services, education and accommodation.
There are more men in the construction, transport and IT, the report said.
“The distribution of men and women in individual industries largely copies the gender stereotypes in society,” it added.
Women make over one half of Czech society. They have a higher education than men as they constitute most university graduates.
Last year, women earned on average 21.9 percent less than men. The gap rose by 0.3 percent as against 2015.
Due to their lower incomes, women are more threatened by poverty, especially in old age. Elderly women have on average one-fifth lower pensions than elderly men.
Last year, women’s employment rose more than men’s, by 2.8 percent to 65.6 percent. By men, it increased by 1.4 percent to 80 percent.
Unemployment mostly hits women aged 35 to 39, at the time when they look after their small children.
