The Czech women in the labour market: A European comparison

Purpose The aim of the paper is to analyse the position of the Czech women in the labour market in a comparison to the EU-15 countries. The paper critically reviews three domains of female labour market participation: general characteristics of the female employment, work-life balance indicators, and disadvantages of the female labour force related to motherhood. Design-methodology-approach The data draw on harmonized data from international-supranational institutions (EUROSTAT, OECD, ILO) in order to compile comparative statistics on gender and labour market characteristics. A cluster analysis is performed in order to group countries with similar gender and labour market characteristics together. Findings The results identify three clusters with respect to the position of women in the labour market: southern model, Scandinavian model, and mixed model. The southern model includes Spain, Italy and Greece. These countries are characterised by women's low participation in the labour market, shorter working careers and a low incidence of part-time working. The Scandinavian model (Denmark, Sweden, Finland) represents countries, which have high levels of female labour market participation, and a work culture that fosters high numbers of part-time and flexible work systems. The mixed model (UK, France, Germany) falls in between these two extremes and includes the Czechoslovakia. The mixed model has relatively high female employment rates both full- and part-time but tends to have less support structures for combining work-life balance. Originality-value The data provide an insight into the gendered labour market systems in the Czech Republic and highlight how state and private employer organisations can develop gender sensitive policies to assist women's career and professional development. It is suggested that the Czech Republic needs to develop policies that will foster part-time and flexible working arrangements.