Defending women's rights in the Czech Republic

Project facts

Project promoter:
Czech women lobby
Project Number:
CZ12-0001
Target groups
Non governmental organisation,
Researchers or scientists
Status:
Completed
Initial project cost:
€323,567
Final project cost:
€288,612
From Norway Grants:
€ 259,154
The project is carried out in:
Czech Republic

Description

The project’s goal is to improve the enforcement of equal opportunities for women and men on the institutional level, at the labor market, in the family and in the society. We want to achieve this as follows: - We will enforce at least two legislative measures, which will lead to the elimination of deficits concerning equal opportunities, we will proceed from the analyses of equal opportunities and monitoring of the Czech government and Parliament activities - we will create a chamber of gender experts, which will serve as an independent platform for the cooperation with the Czech executive and will provide an expert base for the subject of equal opportunities. - We will enforce a ratification of at least one international agreement in the field of equal opportunities and women’s rights, which the Czech Republic is required to ratify but has not yet done so. - We will promote at least one legislative measure which will lead to true respect of women’s reproduction rights and to the legislative provision of the birth attendant profession. - We will improve the awareness of parents, birth attendants and doctors through information campaigns, conferences and manuals.

Summary of project results

Our main focus was the advocacy of equal opportunities for women and men at the institutional level, on the labour market, in families, and in society. In June 2015, we held the 2nd annual Women’s Congress called Women and Media; in 2016 we started preparations for the next year of the Congress, which will be devoted to public and online space (for example, there was a workshop on the topic of online violence against women). Within the Czech Women's Lobby, the "obstetric" working group was active in bringing together NGOs contributing to systemic change in Czech obstetrics. A Gender Expert Chamber of the Czech Republic has been established, which is an independent platform for cooperation with the executive branch and state and local administrations. We have run several campaigns with a positive impact: media and lobbying campaigns (the Education Act, prostitution, current topics related to gender equality) and complementary campaigns focused on the general public (the Normal Childbirth campaign wants to change public attitude toward home births and midwives; research on the perceptions of responsibility for rape and the Stop.cz campaign have contributed to the debate on gender-based violence). Thanks to this project, we have become a respected partner in political and journalistic circles. We have approached both the general and expert public and political representation on the Czech and European level (Department of Gender Equality, Minister of Human Rights, Equal Opportunities and Legislation, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality). The outcomes have an impact on everyday life in the Czech Republic and we intend to continue these activities.

Summary of bilateral results