Employment Breaks due to Childcare in The Czech Republic. Before and After 1989.

This article analyses how Czech mothers perceive the consequences for their careers of interruptions in their employment due to childcare and how their perceptions are affected by whether they had their children prior to or after the fall of the socialist regime. The analysis reveals that women’s perceptions of interruptions in employment due to childcare have changed over time and depend on the institutional and legal context; in particular, the fall of the socialist regime had a significant impact on the perceptions of mothers. The analysis indicates that women who had children after 1989 exhibit more negative perceptions of how engaging in childcare influenced their careers compared to mothers who interrupted their careers due to childcare before the fall of the state socialist regime.