Czechia

Governmental equality bodies

The highest level of governmental responsibility for gender equality is the Prime Minister as the Department of Gender Equality is located within the Office of the Government.

The Department of Gender Equality (Odbor rovnosti žen a mužů při Úřadu vlády ČR) has 11 permanent employees, including its director. The Department is an organisational unit of the Office of the Government, located in the Human Rights section. It is further subdivided into two units; namely, the Unit of the Secretariat of the Government Council for Equality of Women and Men, and the Unit of Cross-cutting Agendas.^[6] Effective communication between government advisory structures (the Council) and the relevant ministries is ensured via membership or guest participation of gender focal points from each ministry at Council meetings, committees and working groups.

The Report on Gender Equality, prepared annually by the Department of Gender Equality, is regularly presented to the government for adoption but is not required to be presented to any of the parliamentary committees.^[7]

The Council was established by Government Resolution No. 1033 of October 10, 2001. The Statute of the Council states: ‘by its activities, the Council assists in and promotes the achievement of equality between women and men, i.e., equal standing and balanced participation of women and men in all spheres of life and at all levels of society, including the legislature, and it acts to raise general consciousness about equality between women and men and about measures to achieve equality’^[8].

The Department of Gender Equality is regularly consulted on nearly all policies and laws (in fields other than gender equality). The department is included in the inter-ministerial comment procedure on proposed legislation and has the mandate to comment on every policy submitted to the government. As part of this procedure, the Department for Gender Equality provides their comments (relating to the gender impact assessment) via the Government Commissioner for Human Rights or the Head of the Office of the Government. If the party presenting the material for the government does not comply with the comments marked as crucial, they become a subject of disagreement. If the disagreement cannot be resolved at a lower level, the disagreement is decided by the government itself. This procedure is based on the Rules of Procedure of the Government. However, comments from the department lead to the adjustment of new or existing policies, laws or programmes in around half of the cases.

Gender mainstreaming is coordinated through an interdepartmental network of gender focal points (GFPs), based on a government resolution (No. 464 of 20 April 2005). Each of the 14 ministries of Czechia employs a gender focal point. In May 2018, the Standard of the GFP Positions was adopted by the government to liaise on gender equality issues across different ministries and strengthen the role of GFPs in carrying out gender impact assessments of legislative and non-legislative materials. Gender expertise varies between GFPs, but the Standard recommends appointing graduates with degrees in gender studies, law and social sciences. The Standard also specifies that gender training for GFPs should be officially recognised by their employers as part of continuing professional development. However, the implementation of the Gender Focal Points Standard is only a recommendation and is not obligatory. Effective communication between government advisory structures (the Council) and the relevant ministries is ensured via membership or guest participation of the GFPs at Council meetings, committees and working groups. The Department of Gender Equality meets regularly with GFPs outside of Council meetings.

Independent equality body

The Public Defender of Rights (PDR) (Veřejný ochránce práv) is the independent equality body, whose mandate is designated by EU Directive 2002/73/EC, the Anti-discrimination Act (198/2009 Coll.) and the Act on the Public Defender of Rights. According to the Act on the Public Defender of Rights, it ‘…shall contribute to the promotion of the right to equal treatment of all persons irrespective of their race or ethnic origin, nationality, sex, age, disability, religion, belief, or opinions. Its functions include:

The PDR currently has four employees, who spend approximately a quarter of their time on projects specifically focused on gender equality, such as those funded by the Norwegian funds and the EEA funds. Funding for the administration of the PDR office and PDR projects and programmes is provided solely by the national government.

The PDR office actively monitors the legislative process to track all legislative proposals and provides comments on proposals in PDR relevant areas. The PDR may submit unbinding proposals themselves in the form of recommendations. Only one vote is allocated to the PDR office in the Government Council for Gender Equality.^[9]

Parliamentary body

In the parliament’s Chamber of Deputies, the Permanent Commission on Family Issues, Equal Opportunities and Minorities deals with gender equality issues.^[10] Similarly, within the Senate, this area falls under the remit of the Sub-Committee on Human Rights and Equal Opportunities of the Committee on Education, Science, Culture, Human Rights and Petitions. Although still in existence, the Sub-Committee has been on hiatus since February 2017.^[11]

Consultation with civil society

The Department of Gender Equality discusses many of its activities with the Government Council for Gender Equality and its committees and working groups, in which civil society organisations and gender equality policy experts are represented.

Informal ad-hoc meetings are also held with key NGOs (e.g. the Czech Women’s Lobby). NGOs have been key partners in the drafting process of the Gender Equality Strategy for 2021-2030. The Department for Gender Equality co-organises conferences and other awareness-raising activities with NGOs and is regularly invited to attend events organised by NGOs.