Reconciling Work and Family in the Czech Republic and the Role of Social Policy
Reconciling Work and Family in the Czech Republic and the Role of Social Policy

Summary/Abstract: In this paper we discuss the question to what extent are value orientations, preferences and actual strategies for reconciling family and work differentiated in the Czech Republic, which factors influence such differentiation and, finally, how these orientations and strategies pursued by the population correspond with preferences for social policy measures. We base the analysis on two sets of data. The first one is a representative survey of the households of over 2,500 respondents basically form 20-40 years old, conducted in 2005. The second source is the survey carried out in 2006 with a sample of 1,000 respondents between 20 and 50 years of age living in two-partner family households. We have identified the link between the re-familisation of the Czech family policy and the gender arrangement of the Czech society (traditional division of labour in the household among men and women, a strong preference for family childcare until children are 3-4 years old, and a weaker preference for women’s participation in the labour market during this period). However, this gender arrangement seems to be largely in conflict with the general value preferences, where we found a strong preference for the egalitarian family model in the population in general, clearly prevailing among women and persons with higher education. Transformation of this traditional context of the gender arrangement, given the value preferences, would not only contribute to expanding the options families have in reconciling family and work, but also shift the preferences and the actual strategies.

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