ISO: CZE
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The electronic version of this document has been prepared at the Fourth
World Conference on Women by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
in collaboration with the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women
Secretariat.
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AS WRITTEN


Address by Madam Jirina VONKOVÁ
Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic


Madam Chairperson,

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to
you, and to the people and government of the People's Republic of China,
for their generous hospitality and for organization of this historic
conference.

Madam Chairperson,

Many things have changed in the Czech Republic since the Third World
Conference on Women which took place in Nairobi ten years ago. We are
here today and more than pleased having an opportunity to pass our
experiences to women from all over the globe.

The circumstances regarding women in the Czech society have always been
linked with the Western European and Christian cultural tradition. Hand
in hand with the national emancipation which came into an existence at
the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th Century a strong
women movement had risen in Czech lands. During the period between the
First and Second World War, it achieved an evident declination from a
patriarchal approach towards the family - a birth of liberal tradition in
women issues and an appreciation of women emancipation by the Czech
public.

Equal conditions of women and men regarding versatile assertion, if you
will, of women into the society and into their personal lives have
prevailed after the Second World War and the coming of communism in 1948;
the issue of women equality had even became a part of official ideology
of the communist regime in the Czech Republic.

Important posts had been given to women in previously typical men
professions, they participated in the scientific research, they found
self-realization in medicine and in other relevant spheres of social
life, their education and experience had constantly rose. Their
employment rate had stabilised at 47%.

Those might seem optimistic quantitative indicators of women self-
realization and freedom, however, the above stated facts, paradoxically,
did not lead to the said, and claimed, self-realization and freedom.
There are several reasons for this findings:

1. The public and private life was limited by the totalitarian ideology.
Women are known to be more emotional and their vision of world is
sensitive to moral and human dimension of politics, civic life and
interhuman relations. Even a partial absence of this dimension may result
in passivity, formality and perhaps even a women's rejection of
participation in the public life.

2. The family life had been severely limited by the economical
conditions. The majority of men was not able to secure an economical
stability of the family budget consequently, women were forced to earn a
second income regardless of their wishes or preferences.

3. Harmonization of family roles and women's self-realization at the work
place did not materialise. Economically active women faced a dilemma: to
decide between a family care and professional career. When such situation
had occurred, the woman had faced unsolveable situation having two
choices while neither of them could be a right one. Women were forced to
accept compromises which inevitably resulted in a decrease of self-
realization i.e. lower position, lower financial gain or in a lack of
family care and insufficient children up-bringing, decay of partner
relations in the family life accompanied by subsequent problems of
adolescent behaviour and high divorce rate. Women have faced all of the
above without, and that is the most unfortunate fact, an assistance of
the society.

4. The society had been prepared neither socially, nor culturally or
psychologically for such a model. Due to the limited contingency of
spontaneous women movement there was evident that some negative myths
regarding women and their roles in families, employment or public life
had been anchored in the modern society. That had resulted in altered
subconscious about women problems, their capabilities and life values.

During 1989 - 1994, the Czech Republic returned to the parliamental
democracy which had indeed existed in this country before the Second
World War. The transformation of centrally planned economy to market
system has started together with a complementary process of re- discovery
of traditional values and strengthening of citizen's activities.
Legislative anchoring of equal status of women in all spheres of their
life and fulfilment of international commitments is a matter of course.

Our experience and knowledge of status of women in other countries
convinces us that human rights are universal indeed. Freedom and self-
realization of women is an issue of freedom and self-realization of all
citizens in the society. Equal rights and a freedom of choice about one's
destiny, and responsibility for the same for all are fundamental starting
point for an on-going process of improvement of women status in the
society. The Czech Republic rejects directive, shallow and formal support
just as we do not agree with an interference with intimacy of private and
social life of women and its control "from the above".

On the other hand, the society must, at all levels, continuously support
a harmonization of woman's role in family with her social and
professional interests. Indicators of current problems and interests of
women should be women's associations and organizations which represent
results of gradual development of social relations. Their activities and
practical effects are based upon principles of civic society an
implication of democratic principles in thinking, acting and decision
making processes at different levels.

On the above noted pillars the Czech Republic has built its approach to
women's issues in the society. First effects have been observed and they
started appearing in many spheres of women's life. Many women movements
and initiatives have started their activities and they are focusing on
spheres which women get mostly involved in such as social policy, family
assistance, educational policy, health care or environmental issues.
Women active in the economic life show an increase in expertise, their
drive for obtaining of higher education and a natural yearning for self-
realization becomes apparent. Just to give one example: the amount of
women entrepreneurs has increased four times between 1990 and 1994.

It is quite clear that an increase of quality of women's lives is a long-
term process that respects a social, cultural and value climate of any
society. However, fundamental and specific women's right established by
international conventions as indicators of moral and values of human
society are unchangeable. It is essential to promote them, to be observed
and kept in all countries around the world.

Let's, therefore, respect of women's world as such, let's preserve its
distinction, identity and poetry, because real gentlemen can be found
only beside real women.