Conference on Gender in Prague

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my great honour and pleasure to launch today's conference on new ways to overcome gender stereotypes.

The common path to promoting equal opportunities for women and men is full of pitfalls; we address many of them with appropriate legislation, but some remain outside the scope of the law. I am talking about prejudice and stereotyping, the invisible barriers which we keep in only in our minds.

They tend to hinder us in the exercise of free choice or decisions.

On hearing the term “gender stereotype”, everyone imagines the traditional division of roles into public men and private women, but in the economic and social reality of the 21st century this distribution has changed considerably. The fact that households often have multiple sources of income plays a role. Therefore, the division of roles is not as clear as it was a hundred years ago, when women did not have the right to vote and seldom attended university. Yet the barriers that divide the world into male and female still persist.

These barriers affect our thinking, our decision-making, behaviour, career, education and training; in short, they affect our lives regardless of our ability, talent or disposition.

They undermine the chances that women have to assert themselves in the higher echelons of decision-making processes. These glass ceilings are sure to be a subject of this conference.

These barriers and stereotypes spur some politicians – male and female – to actively fight against quotas. The men claim that it would be humiliating for their female colleagues; the women argue that quotas are a crutch that they do not need. They mistakenly believe that the quotas are here for women, when they are really intended for the benefit of the whole of society, including men.

This whole discussion about quotas is veiled with the fear of stepping into the unknown.

Gender stereotypes still exist, to some degree, because of the influence of mass media (such as advertising).

Another area where these thought patterns are preserved is the family. Also, in education, training, employment, culture and governance, we can find many ingrained prejudices related to gender.

Gender stereotypes dictate which activities children are guided to take up from the earliest age and which interests they are encouraged to pursue. Boys are led to view the world in a more technical light through their games and toys, cars and building blocks. Girls, however, are brought up to care and work for other members of the household. The humanitarian, soft guidance of girls and the technical upbringing requiring rapid and clear decision-making among boys pervades educational institutions.

This trend is underscored in primary schools. Girls are encouraged to read and do handiwork, and are praised for their attention to detail, while boys are rewarded for innovative performance and the ability to take decisions. Gender is often a deciding factor in the choice of children’s leisure activities and interests.

Around their fifteenth year, depending on the school system in place in the country, young people stand before an important decision: what field to study further. Gender stereotypes frequently play a negative role in their decision-making. It is one of the key factors behind the final decision. How often do we hear that “girls don’t have what it takes to study at technical colleges”? The choice of high school significantly affects the field of study at university and the professions pursued by graduates.

We know the consequences: a segregated labour market slow to deal with change and disaster, such as the current financial crisis.

From numerous studies, we know that if we are to reduce the impact of gender on their future lives, it is important for children to stay as long as possible in a school where the focus is on comprehensive education. That is why gender organizations and now government policy in many European countries support the longest possible stay of children in a mixed, comprehensive education stream (in the Czech Republic the ratio of grammar school and lyceum pupils is rising more slowly than elsewhere – due to the tradition of industry-related education in Central Europe – but the trend has been established). This is in keeping with the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs.

Despite those trends, “feminized” sectors have remained throughout much of the civilized world. They are the consequence of guiding girls into humanities and boys into technical fields. Women dominate education, health care and social work. Industry is dominated by male workers.

The feminized sectors are characterized by low earnings compared to “masculine” industry. This deepens the gender inequality in income. The growing pay gap based on the stereotypes I have described is “deservedly” becoming a significant topic of discussion on the persisting discrimination against women. Gender stereotyping in the choice of education thus causes women to be dependent on men.

A lonely, abandoned or bereaved woman has, in most cases, a lower standard of living than a single man of the same age. Women’s retirement pensions are calculated from lower earnings than men’s. The phenomenon of the “feminisation of poverty” (especially in older age) exists in all regions of Europe and in most countries across the world.

We cannot overcome prejudices simply by changing the law. In particular, we need enlightenment and education, awareness campaigns, and role models to share across the community. The aim of this conference is to exchange experiences and innovative practices, tools and methods which, in a European context, can achieve positive change in the public’s opinion on equality between women and men. Offering a diverse choice of life for everyone without discrimination, prejudice and the stereotyping of roles, tasks and plans in life opens up space for the creative realization of everyone’s personal priorities without limiting their choices by means of rigid preconceptions about the role of women and men.

Therefore, I welcome our meeting as an opportunity for open exchanges of views and a chance to share our experiences on how to combat gender stereotypes and achieve change in people's minds.

In conclusion, I wish this conference every success.

Thank you for your attention.