Search

The paper examines the non/reception of gender equality as a legitimate topic of science policy in the Czech Republic. Despite much criticism from experts and research that shows that there are major problems with gender equality, state officials and institutions remain resistant to the issue. The policies of inactivity are studied from the perspective of a constructivist policy analysis. The aim of the paper is to show how discursive practices of institutions and understandings of the issue constitute gender equality as something that is completely on the periphery of or even outside science itself. Thus, logically, gender equality is pushed outside the remit of science policies. If gender equality is thematised at all, it is reduced to the issue of women in science. Such an understanding of gender equality significantly narrows down the space in which concrete political measures can be made, and determines which activities are acceptable and which are not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author describes sweeping changes in the gender system and offers explanations for why change has been uneven. Because the devaluation of activities done by women has changed little, women have had strong incentive to enter male jobs, but men have had little incentive to take on female activities or jobs. The gender egalitarianism that gained traction was the notion that women should have access to upward mobility and to all areas of schooling and jobs. But persistent gender essentialism means that most people follow gender-typical paths except when upward mobility is impossible otherwise. Middle-class women entered managerial and professional jobs more than working-class women inte grated blue-collar jobs because the latter were able to move up while choosing a "female" occupation; many mothers of middle-class women were already in the highest-status female occupations. The author also notes a number of gender-egalitarian trends that have stalled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]