Parliamentary Discourse on Women's Work (1918–1924)
Parliamentary Discourse on Women's Work (1918–1924)

Summary/Abstract: Background: This paper examines discourse on women's labour in the Czechoslovak Parliament between 1918 and 1924, when its legislative activity was at its peak. The unicameral Revolutionary National Assembly (1918–1920) was in session, and following the first parliamentary elections (1920), the bicameral National Assembly (Chamber of Deputies and Senate) was established; its first term ended in 1925. The paper examines whether parliamentary discourse on women's work was linked to the prevailing public discourse and what role women and men played in shaping it. Objectives: The topic is situated within the discourse on women's work, which took shape during the development of modern society, as reproductive labour became separated from productive labour. This discourse was shaped in (women's) magazines, women's associations, political parties, and professional organisations. While reproductive work was taken for granted as an indisputable part of a woman's life, the opposite was true of productive work. Women's productive labour took on special significance during the Great War, when women began filling positions previously reserved for men. Only after the war were formal barriers preventing women from practising certain professions gradually removed, most visibly the requirement of celibacy for female teachers, the largest female professional group. Parliament provided a specific setting for discourse on women's work, which took shape primarily during debates on laws affecting it, mainly in labour law or social welfare. Four examples were selected: the debate on the law regarding the eight-hour workday; the law abolishing celibacy for female teachers; the law on employee insurance in the event of sickness, invalidity, and old age, including maternity protection; and the law on personnel cost-cutting measures in public administration. Methods: The paper is based on gender and content analysis and interpretation of documents produced in connection with deliberations on four bills. Discussion: Discourse on women's work, health protection, earnings, and gender differences created and reinforced a gender hierarchy. It is impossible to answer unequivocally whether female and male legislators shaped the discourse independently or jointly. Still, they were based on the same premise – that a woman is primarily defined by motherhood, her key role and responsibility toward society and the state. Parliamentary discourse on women's work shows that the separate spheres of men and women persisted even under democratic Czechoslovakia and called into question the civic equality enshrined in the Constitution—paradoxically, even by legislators who had voted for it in 1920. Conclusion: The paper concludes that parliamentary discourse did not differ from the prevailing public discourse. Female legislators contributed to shaping this discourse primarily during debates on the abolition of celibacy and the protection of motherhood and, together with men, shared the woman-as-mother paradigm.

• Details
• Contents