RESEARCH General Sociology

WOMEN'S STUDIES
Czech 'feminist' spirit seen in strong ties to family and career

Mark Reutter, Business Editor
(217) 333-0568; mreutter@uiuc.edu

11/1/2000

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The virtual absence of a Western-style feminist movement in former Soviet bloc countries has puzzled academics and journalists alike. Is it a case of deep-rooted patriarchy? A consequence of female oppression? Or is something else at work?

In her forthcoming essay, "Women in the Czech Republic: Feminism, Czech Style," Marianne A. Ferber argues that even though feminism remains "close to a dirty word in the Czech Republic," it does not follow that the women "are oppressed and are losing ground."

In fact, writes Ferber, professor emerita of economics and women's studies at the University of Illinois, there is a "feminist" spirit characterized by "a striking mixture of strong family values with a firm attachment to the labor market, a sense of personal efficiency and considerable independence."

Ferber traces the progressive strain in Czech life to the virtual absence of a native aristocracy or a Czech military establishment during the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Women received the right to vote without a struggle under Tomás Garrigue Masaryk, the founder and president of the first Czech Republic between 1918 and 1936, who married the American feminist Charlotte Garrigue and adopted her maiden name as his middle name.

Cultural and economic factors have combined to give Czech women a different outlook than many feminists in the United States and western Europe. Having enjoyed equality with men under the law, Czech women have largely accepted a traditional social system that expects them to be both homemakers and breadwinners. At the same time they put great emphasis on maintaining a "pro-family" social welfare system that accommodates to a great extent the needs of working mothers.

The social programs ease the burden of raising a family while holding down a job. In addition to relatively generous government benefits, Czech employers are required to provide 22 weeks of paid maternity leave as well as paid days off to care for sick children. Women who choose not to return to the labor force after childbirth receive state payments until a child is 3 years old.

What's more, women traditionally had equal access to education and more recently entered the professions in large numbers. Today 50 percent of the doctors and 60 percent of dentists are female. "Czech women attach great personal value to their jobs and tend to derive their identity from their own rather than their husbands' position," Ferber writes.

While very few women enter politics, their economic interests are not ignored by Czech politicians. "The men who run for political office appear to be keenly aware both that an extremely high proportion of women vote, and that they will not vote for candidates who fail to support programs that are important to them," Ferber writes.

Ferber's essay, co-written with Phyllis Hutton Raabe, a sociologist at the University of New Orleans, will be published in the forthcoming book, "Women in the Age of Transformation."