5. Informing gender-sensitive policymaking in the Czech Republic
By helping policymakers identify the gender-specific impacts of policies, programmes and budgets on women, men and other population groups, gender impact assessments (GIAs) are a key government instrument for delivering better gender equality outcomes. Involving non-governmental stakeholders and citizens in the gender equality policy cycle also can greatly improve the quality of policymaking for gender equality. This chapter examines the scope of application of GIAs in the Czech Republic as well as the availability and use of gender-disaggregated data and evidence to inform gender-sensitive policymaking. It also assesses the extent to which the government of the Czech Republic adopts a consultative approach to gender equality policymaking. The chapter concludes with recommendations for a policy roadmap to strengthen the use of GIAs as a government tool for gender mainstreaming, reinforce the country’s evidence base and enhance citizen participation in policymaking to deliver greater gender equality.
Gender inequalities are pervasive and due to deeply rooted gender norms, stereotypes and biases, they can seep into the baseline of laws, regulations, policies and government action (OECD, 2019[1]). Such laws, regulations, policies and actions can then unknowingly perpetuate societal gender inequalities. Even a seemingly gender-blind output of public policy, by not considering the potential needs and challenges of women, can inadvertently aggravate gender inequality (Chapter 1). Gender-sensitive policymaking requires reflecting on and representing the needs and realities of diverse groups in society, including groups facing particular barriers to representation and participation in public life and potential discrimination, among them women. These needs should be considered across all policy sectors at every stage of the decision-making process – for example, policy and budget design, funding decisions, service delivery, and programme evaluations – in order to help democracies deliver on people’s expectations. Policymakers dispose of a wide range of tools to support gender-sensitive policymaking (Box 5.1).
This chapter focuses particularly on gender impact assessments (GIAs), the main tool available in the Czech Republic. It also looks at the availability and use of gender-disaggregated data to underpin gender-sensitive policymaking. (Gender budgeting, another key tool, is discussed in detail in Chapter 5). Finally, the chapter discusses the extent to which the Government of the Czech Republic adopts a consultative approach to gender equality policymaking.
Gender impact assessments: GIAs are a policy tool for the screening of a given policy (programme, budget) proposal and to identify and assess its likely differential impact or effects on women and men from diverse backgrounds. This is known as ex ante assessment. GIAs may be also measuring programmatic impacts (i.e. results within the framework of public sector performance) rather than impacts at the level of societal change. These assessments can also be undertaken after the implementation of a given policy, programme or budget at the evaluation stage to understand its gender-specific impacts, which are also known as ex post assessments.
Gender budgeting: Gender budgeting refers to the systematic application of analytical tools and processes as a routine part of the budget process in order to highlight gender equality issues and to inform, prioritise and resource gender-responsive policies.
Integrating gender into regulatory governance: Various aspects of the regulatory cycle can be leveraged to greater advantage in the achievement of more substantive levels of gender equality. These can include, for example, decisions on where regulations are needed; ex ante and ex post evaluations of the impact of regulations including the implementation and enforcement, on gender equality; stakeholder engagement; and ongoing monitoring and evaluation of regulatory practices. One of the approaches through which countries can conduct GIAs is by integrating these assessments as a part of regulatory impact assessments.
Gender-inclusive public procurement: Gender-inclusive public procurement involves the introduction of gender requirements and considerations into public procurement policies and practices to use public procurement as an instrument to advance gender equality.
Source: (OECD, 2021[2]; OECD, 2019[1]; OECD, 2021[3]).
GIAs are one of the most widely used public management tools for gender-sensitive policymaking among OECD members. Such assessments are a tool to help analyse any given policy or funding decision throughout its lifecycle in order to identify and assess its (potential or actual) gender-specific impacts. As of 2021, 76% of OECD Members report having a formal requirement to conduct GIAs and at least six reported having new and/or revised requirements.1 Gender impact assessments can be performed at the design or development stage (ex ante GIA) or at the evaluation stage (ex post GIA). The survey of OECD countries found that the former are significantly more commonplace (used by 77% of respondents) than ex post GIAs (15% of respondents).2 GIAs can be conducted for a variety of government documents, as highlighted in Table 5.1.
5.2.1. Ex ante gender impact assessment has been introduced as a binding requirement in the Czech Republic
While there is no law in the Czech Republic requiring GIAs to be conducted, such a requirement has been introduced through a Government Resolution on General Principles for Regulatory Impact Assessments that represents a binding decision of the government.3 Under this Resolution, GIA is conceived as part of the wider regulatory impact assessment (RIA) process (e.g. environmental impact assessments, impact assessments on the business environment, etc.) conducted by ministries and pertaining to the submission of materials of a legislative and non-legislative character to the government (i.e., ex ante GIAs). The GIA requirement only applies to submissions that concern physical persons. The requirement also calls for the use of sex-disaggregated data when conducting GIAs.
Under the national Gender Equality Strategy for 2021-30 (Strategy 2021+), undertaking GIA is included as a part of the broader gender mainstreaming goal for the preparation and implementation of legislative, conceptual and strategic materials of all ministries.
It is important to note that while there is a requirement to perform GIAs in government submissions, the same rule does not apply to the submission of primary legislation documents submitted to the Parliament of the Czech Republic by the members of the parliament and regional assemblies. More specifically, Act No. 90/1995 Coll. On Rules of Procedure of the Chamber of the Deputies in Section 86 (3) stipulates requirements of an explanatory memorandum for parliamentary bills, which does not include GIA. In practice, however, an assessment of the gender-related impacts is done in some cases directly by the member of parliament proposing the parliamentary bill. Chapter 7 discusses the important role that the Czech parliament can play both as a legislature and in its role to oversee the progress of the government in the area of gender equality policy. Therefore, expanding the requirement to perform GIA in all legislative materials, including those initiated by members of parliament, can further underpin gender-sensitive policymaking and the ability of the Czech Republic to make progress in its gender equality objectives. Box 5.2 outlines Austria’s approach to GIA in the context of legislation and government procurement.
Since 1 January 2013, all new or amended laws and regulations in Austria as well as major government investment or procurement contracts on the federal level must include a mandatory ex ante impact assessment on gender equality along with other assessments of potential socioeconomic and environmental impacts. Quantitative and qualitative thresholds ensure the proportionality of these efforts in relation to the respective law or regulation. The Ministry of Finance and the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport, therefore, provide content-related and technical assistance. The impact assessments are disclosed for consultation and parliamentary discussions. Ex post evaluations of the impacts are to be performed by ministries within five years and are to be reported to the parliament in the Annual Report on Impact Assessment submitted in May.
Source: Information provided by the Government of Austria.
5.2.2. While a methodology for conducting gender impact assessments, there is scope to link it to the formal regulatory impact assessment requirement
The Gender Equality Department (the Department) provides methodological support to line ministries for the implementation of GIAs. Notably, the Department issued a handbook outlining a methodology for GIA applicable to materials submitted to the government of the Czech Republic (GIA Methodology), which was approved by a government resolution in 2015.4 The resolution recommended that all relevant stakeholders use the GIA methodology presented throughout the conceptual, decision making and evaluative processes that can impact people. The GIA Methodology itself provides a detailed description of how to perform GIA (Box 5.2), presenting examples of concrete legislative and non-legislative documents. It is intended for the needs of analytical, legislative, and other units in public administration. It also serves as a helpful tool for gender focal points (GFPs) across line ministries (Government of the Czech Republic, 2015[5]).
One of the key challenges in the take-up of this methodology by the policymakers stems from the fact that the Government Resolution on General Principles for Regulatory Impact Assessments (RIA) does not establish a formal methodology on how to perform GIA (see subsequent sections for other challenges). For broader RIAs, for instance, there is a formally established methodology explicitly specified in the aforementioned government resolution, RIA Principles (Government of the Czech Republic, 2016[6]). The Department has plans to update the GIA Methodology in 2023, following its last update in 2017. This provides an opportunity to ensure that the updated methodology is annexed to the RIA Principles, standardising how GIA is performed across the Government. Such an update can also help the current government uphold its commitment – as part of its Policy Statement – to “carefully consider every new regulation based on the analysis of expected impacts” (Government of the Czech Republic, 2022[7]). Furthermore, this update could improve the guidance provided in the methodology to include information regarding skills and competencies needed to conduct GIAs, as well as the types of data needed to feed into GIAs, as this information is currently missing.
The Department has developed a handbook containing the recommended methodology for conducting GIA (GIA Methodology). It aims to clarify and improve the process of assessing impacts related to gender equality of legislative and non-legislative materials submitted to the government. As such, the handbook provides methodological guidance for a range of stakeholders.
It identifies four target groups:
Line ministry units responsible for preparing such materials
Other entities including other public administration organs, local authorities, higher education institutions, enterprises and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The GIA Methodology describes the specific steps to be taken when conducting a GIA, including preparatory questions which should be asked. First, it suggests that authors of a legislative or non-legislative draft document consider its target groups and thus if the proposal concerns people. If the response is “no,” the GIA is not needed. However, the draft should be analysed carefully as materials may target people indirectly. If the response is “yes,”, the author should consider if the situation of women and men in the related area is equal. An analysis should be done. After assessing the current situation, the last question to be asked is what impact the material has on the current state of gender equality in that particular area. In all the described stages of the assessment, the GIA Methodology recommends using relevant data, studies or consultations with experts.
According to the GIA Methodology, GFPs should be included in the preparation of the material. Subsequently, GFPs should be included in the intra-ministerial comment procedure, when they should focus on whether the gender equality perspective was taken into account during the preparation of the material, if the impacts of the material on gender equality were identified and if these were adequately assessed. Moreover, it is recommended that GFPs can proactively check whether necessary data disaggregated by sex are available and thus could be used for GIAs.
The Department evaluates all materials submitted to eKLEP for the interagency commenting procedure. The process is very similar to that used by GFPs during the intra-ministerial comment procedure. If the Department finds GIA inadequate, it can submit an essential comment that must be taken into account by the author of the material.
Other entities such as other public administration organs, local authorities, experts or NGOs working with legislative and non-legislative materials can use the handbook as a methodological tool, too.
The Handbook also includes concrete GIA examples.
Source: Špondrová et al. (2015[8]), Methodology of assessing the impact on gender equality for material submitted to the Government, Office of the Government, Prague, retrieved from: https://www.vlada.cz/cz/-138748.
5.2.3. Despite active efforts, the implementation of gender impact assessments remains very limited
The Department undertook two studies to monitor the implementation of GIA between 2017 and 2021in line with the GIA Methodology. This is an important first step towards increasing scrutiny and transparency regarding the implementation of the requirement for GIAs. The analyses showed that the uptake of GIAs remains very limited and that when they are performed, their quality remains uneven. For example, one study of 180 materials submitted to the Cabinet over four months in 2017 found that GIAs were conducted for only 44% of these. The vast majority of those GIAs concluded that the proposal assessed had no impact on gender, with the result that a full assessment was not carried out. Only 15 of the 180 documents presented (8%) were identified as having an impact on gender equality, and only 3 of the 15 included a complete GIA that followed the GIA Methodology. The 2021 analysis reached similar findings: Only nine cabinet submissions included a detailed GIA and only three assessments followed the GIA Methodology (Government of the Czech Republic, 2022[9]).
In a recent short questionnaire circulated to 11 ministries in the Czech government, the OECD inquired about specific roadblocks for GIAs. Seven of the 11 ministries reported a lack of awareness and skills to conduct GIA. Policymakers’ lack of gender expertise is also one of the most commonly reported barriers across the OECD countries (OECD, 2022[10]). Other barriers reported by the Czech Republic ministries surveyed include the lack of capacity of gender focal points to support a GIA process (40%) and inadequate prioritisation of the GIA requirement by the ministry (40%) (Figure 5.1). These findings highlight the importance of strengthening the overall institutional design and capacities across the government, in line with Chapter 4. Many barriers that hamper the implementation of GIAs also influence how RIAs are performed. Stakeholder interviews cited broader barriers such as limited analytical capacities, time and expertise to perform RIAs as well as lack of data and evidence. This indicates that efforts to remove barriers to GIA can have a positive impact on how regulatory impact assessments overall are implemented across the Czech government administration.
Source: Information collected by OECD based on a questionnaire sent to 11 ministries of the Czech government.
Stakeholders consulted for this report noted that the GFPs, who are usually expected to act as the central repository of gender expertise within line ministries, are often excluded from the GIA process, when and if such assessments are performed at all. Five of the 11 surveyed ministries (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports; Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Ministry of Transport; Ministry of Industry and Trade; and Ministry of Regional Development) reported that, in the absence of formal procedures, individual GFPs have proactively made use of internal comment procedures for cabinet submissions to provide opinions. However, the internal comment procedure only comes into play once a submission is nearly in its final form, leaving little room for the GFP’s input to meaningfully inform the submission. In six other surveyed ministries, GFPs reported being fully excluded from the process. None of the surveyed ministries reported that they had consulted the Department to seek guidance on GIAs though the Department offers expertise and training (albeit with very limited resources).
Furthermore, there is increasing pressure on policymakers to consider a broad range of impacts in regulatory proposals (e.g. impacts on sustainability, children, youth, families, environment, etc.). Lack of streamlined processes may exacerbate tension among different priorities, with some issues easily overlooked or implemented as a tick-the-box exercise. Indeed, interviews showed that societal impacts usually side-lined in comparison to economic impacts and cost-benefit analysis in the implementation of RIA more broadly in the Czech Republic. It is important to communicate both social and economic value added of GIAs and clarify expectations from line ministries about its implementation in order to make progress on national gender equality goals and broader economic goals. Box 5.4 describes Canada’s approach to evaluating gender-related impacts of sector-specific policies, including through the use of Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus).
The Department has taken important steps to respond to the low rate of GIA uptake across the administration. Although undertaken on an ad hoc basis at the beginning of the legislative cycle, the Department short-listed a number of priority legislative proposals with potentially high impact on gender equality. Subsequently, the Department sent formal letters to the relevant ministries encouraging a full GIA on these priority proposals. While the initial impact of this initiative was limited, prioritisation exercises can be systematised for each legislative cycle as part of a gradual approach to implementing GIAs. Such exercises can also help better communicate the value added of GIAs based on emerging good practices across ministries.
In parallel, the Czech public administration could consider engaging in broad-based consultations to support the identification and understanding of potential issues faced by women of diverse backgrounds (with an intersectional approach) in the Czech Republic. Specifically at the sectoral level, evidence-based needs assessments and analyses could be developed to outline sector-specific policy issues related to gender equality. These foundational exercises can facilitate GIAs by creating a readily available knowledge base to feed into the GIA process, thereby reducing the implementation burden.
Finally, it is important to note that the minister of the line ministry authoring the regulatory proposals is the determining authority for whether RIA, including GIA, should be conducted. This affords the Minister significant discretion in determining whether RIA – and hence GIA – will be required for any given regulatory proposal (OECD, 2023[11]). To strengthen GIAs, consideration could be given to further strengthening the political mandate for the gender equality agenda: A minister who is responsible for gender equality can help make a stronger case to other ministers in the Cabinet about the importance of implementing GIAs.
The Canadian government recognises that gender, diversity and intersectionality are important aspects to consider in policymaking and decision making. For this reason, Canada has implemented legal requirements to integrate gender mainstreaming in sector-specific laws.
Since 2001, under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, must include GBA Plus analysis in its reporting to the parliament on immigration. Furthermore, the department generates extensive disaggregated data by gender and other intersectional factors such as age and country of citizenship as a means to better support evidence-based analysis and decision making.
With regard to the environment, the Impact Assessment Act, enacted in 2019, provides the Minister of Environmental and Climate Change with the discretion to designate projects not included in the regulations if these may cause either adverse effects within federal jurisdiction or adverse direct or incidental effects or if public concerns related to those effects warrant the designation. The Act also notes that the minister may consider adverse effects on Indigenous Peoples, including Indigenous women, as it requires that the assessment of a designated project take into consideration the intersection of sex and gender with other identity factors.
Source: Information provided by the government of Canada as part of the 2021 OECD Survey on Gender Mainstreaming and Governance.
5.2.4. There is scope to strengthen current institutional responsibilities for gender impact assessment implementation, quality assurance and oversight
In light of these reported gaps and barriers, there is scope to consider how institutional responsibilities for ensuring meaningful implementation of GIAs can be consolidated. Within the Office of Government, the RIA Unit provides methodological support to the public administration for conducting RIAs. It is also tasked with supporting the RIA Board – an independent watchdog responsible for overseeing the quality of RIAs produced by individual ministries and other agencies – in reviewing the quality of RIAs. While GIAs are required to be carried out as part of RIAs, the RIA Unit and the RIA Board do not provide methodological support and quality control to GIAs in practice. This support is currently provided by the Department, though to a limited extent in view of capacity constraints.
The OECD (2016[12]) Recommendation on Gender Equality in Public Life stresses the need to “integrate evidence-based assessments of gender impacts and considerations … at early stages of all phases of the policy cycle”. In the absence of ex post GIA, policymakers may lack the information to understand whether laws, policies and budgets serve intended goals and whether they benefit men and women equally (OECD, 2019[1]). Yet, currently, very few countries in the OECD area conduct continuous or ex post GIA. Box 5.5 presents an example from Canada. The government has pledged to focus on enhancing evaluations, As part of its Policy Statement, the Czech Republic has identified evaluations as a priority, which could present a window of opportunity to introduce ex post GIAs (Government of the Czech Republic, 2022[7]). These could be gradually introduced, starting with some pilot programmes with high-impact potential.
Ensuring that the requirement to conduct GIA extends beyond just key documents and covers the whole range of government decision making is essential for comprehensive gender mainstreaming. As illustrated in Table 5.1, more than half of OECD countries have requirements to conduct gender impact assessments during the development of government programmes and initiatives. The Czech government could consider expanding the scope of its GIA requirements to also cover a wider range of government programmes and actions.
The Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada in consultation with Women and Gender Equality Canada has developed a primer for evaluators on how to integrate Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) into every stage of government evaluations to support commitments and directions. The guide outlines a list of questions that policymakers can use across the stages of evaluation to integrate GBA+ according to the nature of the policy, programme or service and on the type of evaluation. These are oriented along the following areas:
Reviewing the logic model and theory of change (e.g. do any aspects of the policy, programme or initiative have potential gender considerations?)
Performance measures – e.g. are there potential biases in the way current indicators are framed?
Relevance – e.g. is the policy, programme or service equally relevant to different target population groups?
Design and delivery – e.g. are there particular target population groups that are not being reached with this policy, programme or service?
Effectiveness – e.g. have outcomes differed across diverse target population groups and if so, what accounts for the differences?
Efficiency – e.g. what are the administrative costs of the policy, programme or service for each target population group?
Source: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (2019[13]), Integrating Gender-based Analysis Plus into Evaluation: A Primer, https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/audit-evaluation/evaluation-government-canada/gba-primer.html#eg-1.
High-quality, readily accessible gender-sensitive and intersectional data and evidence are the foundation of gender-sensitive policymaking. These are also a strategic asset for the government of the Czech Republic, which identifies evidence-based policymaking as one of its current priorities. Yet the limited availability and use of gender-disaggregated data remain a significant barrier to gender-sensitive policymaking.
5.3.1. There is no legal obligation to produce data disaggregated by gender in the Czech Republic
There is no legal obligation to collect and use data disaggregated by gender – an important loophole according to the stakeholder interviews – leading to limited availability of crucial evidence to inform gender-sensitive policymaking across various policy sectors. Since 2016, the Government Resolution on General Principles for Regulatory Impact Assessments, which formalised the requirement to conduct GIAs, tasks the government with taking necessary measures for the segregation by sex of all collected data within ministerial statistical systems and providing them to the Czech Statistical Office (CSO).5 As in the case of GIAs, however, enforcement of this requirement remains very limited.
5.3.2. The collection, availability and use of gender-disaggregated data across the Czech administration is uneven
There is no legal obligation to collect and use data disaggregated by gender – an important loophole according to the stakeholder interviews – leading to limited availability of crucial evidence to inform gender-sensitive policymaking across various policy sectors. Since 2016, the Government Resolution on General Principles for Regulatory Impact Assessments, which formalised the requirement to conduct GIAs, tasks the government with taking necessary measures for the segregation by sex of all collected data within ministerial statistical systems and providing them to the Czech Statistical Office (CSO).6 As in the case of GIAs, however, enforcement of this requirement remains very limited.
5.3.3. The collection, availability and use of gender-disaggregated data across the Czech administration is uneven
The CSO is the main body responsible for collecting gender-related data in the Czech Republic. It plays the role of the national co-ordinator on methodological and technical aspects to ensure continuity, reliability and validity of collected statistical data and to process data collected by ministries to produce national statistics related to gender equality. The CSO co-operates with various stakeholders, including line ministries, in collecting gender-disaggregated data. Since 2001, the CSO has published an annual comprehensive publication called Focus on Women and Men, which presents the latest statistical data on women and men in various spheres (Box 5.6). However, stakeholder interviews revealed capacity constraints within the CSO to support the production of gender-disaggregated data.
The 2022 edition of the Czech Statistical Office (CSO) ’s annual publication, Focus on Women and Men, presented gender statistics in ten key areas. These are: population, families and households; health; education; labour and earnings; social security; justice and crime; public life and decision making; science, research and innovation; information technologies; and transport. The data are publicly accessible on the website of the CSO.
In 2021, an editorial board was created with representatives from relevant ministries and partner institutions to prepare the publication.
Source: Czech Statistical Office (2022[14]), Focus on Women and Men 2022, https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/focus-on-women-and-men-2022.
Evidence and stakeholder interviews point out the uneven availability and use of gender-disaggregated data across different policy sectors in the Czech public administration which is also the status quo among many OECD members (Figure 5.2). Responses to the OECD questionnaire circulated to 11 ministries in the Czech government indicate that more than half of the available administrative data collected was disaggregated by sex in four sectors only (namely defence, interior affairs, labour and social affairs and justice). In the culture and transport sectors, less than 50% of the data collected was disaggregated by sex.
Source: Information collected by OECD based on a questionnaire sent to 11 line ministries of the Czech Republic public administration.
A number of barriers explain this uneven situation. These include the lack of formal requirements for the collection and use of gender-disaggregated data (as noted in the previous section and consistent with 21% of OECD countries), lack of indicators to guide the collection of gender-disaggregated data and limited accuracy of existing data (OECD, 2022[10]). Figure 5.3 shows the barriers reported by the gender focal points across the 11 line ministries surveyed. Alongside these specific barriers are more general challenges within the Czech Republic’s public administration related to data sharing, lack of data interoperability and very limited capacities in general for evidence-informed decision making (OECD, 2023[11]).
Source: Information collected by OECD based on a questionnaire sent to 11 ministries within the Czech administration.
To address similar challenges, OECD members have undertaken various measures to boost the collection, accessibility and availability of gender-disaggregated data. Box 5.7 presents examples of efforts to improve collection and use of gender-disaggregated data from Iceland, Portugal and Switzerland.
Iceland has developed an interactive dashboard that shows the progress made on individual indicators of its Gender Equality Action Programme 2020-2023 based on data. In 2019, Statistics Portugal launched the National Statistics System on Gender Equality, a project to review, update and enhance the content and coverage of the Gender Database (GDB), to make a more comprehensive system of gender statistics and information on various dimensions of equality and inequality between women and men available for policymakers and public. In 2021 in Switzerland, as part of the Federal Council’s 2019-23 Open Government Data Strategy, the Swiss National Statistical Office and the Federal Office for Gender Equality, organised a roundtable on gender statistics. The roundtable served to foster dialogue among different on the use of data and statistics in the public sphere in the field of gender equality. It also provided a platform to share information on the use and analysis of existing data and review possible improvements to suit the needs of all end users, leading to tailored measures by the Swiss government to meet this objective.
Source: (Government of Iceland, n.d.[15]); (Government of Switzerland, n.d.[16]); Information for Portugal was provided by the Government of Portugal in 2021.
Gender-sensitive data and evidence are needed at key decision-making moments in the policy cycle and during government action, for example for priority setting, policy formulation, resource allocation, implementation, and evaluation of performance and policy impacts. Enabling inclusive government action requires that the right actors involved in a decision or action have access to the necessary data at the right time. These actors may be policy analysts in line ministries who need these data to inform policy design on a substantive policy area such as agricultural reforms. Another key actor would be the centre of government that may need such data to track the executive’s performance on the government’s gender-related goals or to approve a policy proposal taking into account GIAs. Building a portfolio of gender-sensitive data and evidence can be especially crucial during times of crisis or emergencies when it is important to mobilise the policy process on the basis of existing, accessible data to underpin gender-sensitive policymaking.
For gender-disaggregated data to flourish across the Czech administration, there is considerable scope to enhance analytical capacities to identify where data are needed and to produce and use these data to underpin analysis. For example, data on gender-based violence and time use is crucial to closing key gender gaps, but these are not yet systematically available. As a key starting point and in line with the government’s commitment to evidence-based policymaking, an audit of gender-disaggregated data mapping to identify where data are available or lacking can contribute to an informed assessment of the most critical gaps. As the next step, developing a gender-disaggregated data strategy can help focus efforts to improve the extent to which official statistics and administrative data provide insights into gender gaps. In recent years, several OECD countries have carried out such data audits and developed targeted strategies to enhance the availability of gender statistics (Box 5.8).
In its Budget 2021, the Government of Canada announced the Disaggregated Data Action Plan to produce better and more detailed statistical information for policymaking. Among other objectives, the action plan aims to expand disaggregated data on diverse populations (such as women, Indigenous Peoples, racialised populations and people living with disabilities) at various levels of geography, improving access to such data and increased analytical insights on diverse groups of people.
In late 2017, the United Kingdom’s Office for National Statistics initiated an audit of available data sources and publications that are available to better understand inequalities in the country, including outcomes for all nine of the protected characteristic groups (age; sex; race and ethnicity; religion or belief; disability, sexual orientation; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; and pregnancy and maternity) covered by the Equality Act 2010. The audit highlighted the need to improve transparency and accessibility, coverage, granularity, and harmonisation and comparability of data, as well as the inclusiveness of the collection and reporting processes.
Source: (United Kingdom Office for National Statistics, 2018[17]; Statistics Canada, 2021[18]).
The ability of non-governmental stakeholders and citizens to participate in the gender equality policy cycle can underpin accountability by facilitating that policy meets the needs of the population it aims to benefit (OECD, 2020[19]). This is especially important when formulating policies for groups facing potential barriers and discrimination such as women, people with disabilities and others. Evidence also suggests women tend to face more challenges in accessing government information than men, which impacts their ability to hold governments accountable (Amnesty International, 2018[20]; OECD, 2021[21]).
5.4.1. There is scope to enhance citizen participation and engagement in policymaking, including in the area of gender policy
OECD analysis finds there is a vibrant civil society landscape in the Czech Republic, with resurging advocacy through stronger capacities and determination to be involved in public decision making (OECD, 2023[11]). Responses to public opinion surveys suggest that Czech citizens care about gender equality as a moral imperative: According to the 2017 Eurobarometer survey, an overwhelming majority of Czech citizens agree that promoting gender equality is an important value personally7 (Eurobarometer, 2017[22]). A public opinion survey by the Office of Government found that 77% of respondents thought that the public administration has primary responsibility for working to eliminate gender-based discrimination (Government of the Czech Republic, 2016[23]). On the other hand, another survey reaffirms the presence of gender-related stereotypes as a significant cause of gender inequality (CVVM, 2020[24]).
These figures further illustrate that there is a fertile ground to engage civil society in gender-sensitive policymaking and promoting gender equality.
The level of stakeholder consultation remains low, but some good practices emerge from the Gender Equality Department
Despite this vibrant backdrop, the Czech Republic scores comparatively low on international indicators in the field of citizen and stakeholder participation. According to the 2021 OECD Indicators of Regulatory Policy and Governance, it scores lower than the OECD average for stakeholder engagement in the development of primary laws and subordinate regulations, (OECD, 2023[11]). Moreover, while the inter-ministerial commenting procedure, eKLEP, makes it possible to consult citizens and civil society actors, there is scope to use it proactively as it is currently not used in practice. Recent work by the Department highlights some emerging good practices that could also inspire line ministries in their endeavour to implement Strategy 2030+ (Box 5.9).
In response to the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender-based violence, in 2020 the Department broadcast necessary information for survivors and perpetrators of domestic violence on TV, released a movie on domestic violence for streaming, and published leaflets and posted information on social networks on the topic.
In 2019, the Department organised two international conferences on the themes of representation of women in politics and gender-based violence in the context of ratification of the Istanbul Convention. The Department also led a panel discussion on feminism at the Ji.hlava film festival in co-operation with the Office of the Public Defender of Rights and the NGO Open Society. The Department also organised a conference on gender equality that included a workshop on measures that municipalities can adopt to promote gender equality. In addition, the Department runs a campaign called “It is equality!” through a Facebook page, a YouTube channel, a website.
Moreover, the Department took important efforts to consult citizens during the development of Strategy 2021+, affording citizens the opportunity to comment on the strategy online between 18 February and 18 March 2020. The Department received 195 comments.
Source: (Office of the Government of the Czech Republic, 2021[25]; Office of the Government of the Czech Republic, 2020[26]; Office of the Government of the Czech Republic, 2021[27]).
Efforts have been undertaken to include civil society perspectives, but consultation channels remain underused
Civil society organisations have a strong representation in the Government Council for Gender Equality, and the Department co-operates with them regularly. However, the first annual monitoring of Strategy 2021+ revealed that co-operation between the public administration and external expert organisations is very limited and often on ad hoc basis. Moreover, most ministries do not make sufficient use of the outputs of public research institutions and NGOs. Some promising practices have also emerged from this reporting exercise, as described in Box 5.10.
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and the Centre for Gender and Science
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports collaborates with the Centre for Gender and Science of the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences through the implementation of the CZERA project 2021-2027, which is funded by the ministry. The key activities are especially focused on support and capacity building in the area of gender equality in science. Its goal is to increase the preparedness of Czech research-performing organisations and research teams for international collaboration within Horizon Europe and also to implement national and international commitments to gender equality in science. The Centre provides:
consulting, trainings and workshops for the Czech research-performing organisations
expert and analytical support to the public administration in the form of consultations, analytical reports, comments, and organisation of public events and awareness-raising activities
participation in various advisory boards and working groups.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Institute of International Relations
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs collaborates with the Institute of International Relations through the project on gender equality in Czech foreign policy and development assistance, which aims to implement gender mainstreaming in Czech development aid, create an institutional framework for promoting gender equality in Czech foreign policy, and eliminate vertical and horizontal segregation at the institute, the ministry, and the Czech Development Agency and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Within this project, gender audits were carried out at the institute and the ministry as well as several studies and publications dealing with gender equality and foreign affairs were prepared; these are available online.
Source: (Government of the Czech Republic, n.d.[28]; IIR, 2022[29]; IIR, 2022[29]).
Given these promising practices, there is scope to further formalise consultation and participation channels across line ministries for the engagement of civil society organisations in gender-sensitive policymaking. Beyond offering formal channels, it is also important to build civil society organisations’ capacity to meaningfully contribute to policymaking. While some resources are allocated from the European Union initiatives to increase their capacity, further consideration should be given to finding more stable mechanisms to sustain civil society organisations’ capacity, for example through state funding mechanisms.
5.5.1. Strengthening gender impact assessments
Pursue efforts to strengthen the systematic implementation of GIAs. The Department has plans to update the GIA methodology in 2023, and this would be an opportunity to ensure that the updated methodology is annexed to the government resolution on RIA, standardising how GIA is performed across the government. Such an update can also help the current government uphold its commitment – contained in its programme statement – to carefully consider every new regulation based on the analysis of expected impacts. This update could also improve the guidance provided in the methodology to include information regarding skills and competencies needed to conduct GIAs as well as the types of data needed to feed into GIAs, as this information is currently missing.
Improving the institutional set-up for GIAs through systematic involvement of GFPs in the RIA process could bring the needed gender expertise to improve the effectiveness of GIAs.
To minimise potential tension among different social and economic impact assessments when it comes to the implementation of RIA in the Czech Republic, it is important to communicate both the social and economic value added of GIAs and clarify expectations from line ministries in its implementation to make progress on national gender equality and broader economic goals.
The Department has taken important steps to respond to the low rate of GIA uptake across the administration, including identifying priority legislative proposals with potentially high impact on gender equality to undergo full GIAs. In the short term, pursuing such a prioritisation can provide important impetus for the institutionalisation of GIAs as part of a gradual approach. Such an exercise can also help better communicate the value added of GIAs based on emerging good practices across ministries.
In anticipation of the GIA requirement for cabinet proposals and before policy proposals are developed, policymakers in line ministries – with the support of GFPs – can carry out evidence-based needs assessments and analyses to outline sector-specific policy issues related to gender equality; these could be done once every few years, for instance. In doing so, these policymakers could consider engaging in broad-based consultations to support the identification and understanding of potential issues faced by women at the sectoral level that relate to their mandate. These foundational exercises can facilitate GIAs by creating a readily available knowledge base to feed into the GIA process, thereby reducing the implementation burden.
The Czech Parliament has an important role to play as a legislature and in its oversight of government progress in the area of gender equality policy. Therefore, expanding the requirement to perform GIA in all legislative materials, including those initiated by the Chamber of Deputies, can further underpin gender-sensitive policymaking and the ability of the Czech Republic to make progress in its gender equality objectives.
The RIA Unit and the RIA Board can potentially play an important role to strengthen compliance with GIA methodology and GIA oversight. To strengthen the institutionalisation of GIAs, there is a clear window of opportunity and scope to consider a formal role and mandate for the Minister of Legislation, the RIA Unit and the RIA Committee to provide oversight for GIAs in co-ordination with the Department. To operationalise this, an important first step is to ensure the availability of gender expertise within these structures.
The Office of Government and the Ministry of Finance – as the key centre of government entities in the Czech Republic – could also provide a checkpoint to ensure that new and modified policy proposals as well as budget proposals include a GIA.
Collaboration with experts in academia and NGO as well as citizen accountability for GIA could be further strengthened through their more active participation in inter-ministerial commenting procedure in eKLEP.
There is scope to expand the use of GIAs to cover the full policymaking cycle, including the ex post phase, in line with the government’s Policy Statement that commits to evaluate laws, decrees and bylaws on a five-year rolling basis.
5.5.2. Data and evidence for gender-sensitive policymaking
For gender-disaggregated data to flourish across the Czech public administration, there is important scope to enhance analytical capacities to identify where the needs are and to produce and use these data to underpin analysis. For example, the availability of data on gender-based violence and time use is crucial to closing key gender gaps, but these data are not yet systematically available.
As a key starting point, and in line with the government’s commitment to evidence-based policymaking, an audit of gender-disaggregated data mapping where data are available and where they are lacking can be beneficial to an informed assessment of the most critical gaps. As the next step, the development of a gender-disaggregated data strategy can help focus efforts to improve the extent to which official statistics and administrative data provide insights into gender gaps.
5.5.3. Citizen participation in the gender equality policy
There is scope to further formalise consultation and participation channels across line ministries for the engagement of civil society organisations in gender-sensitive policymaking. While the possibility to consult citizens and civil society actors as part of the inter-ministerial commenting procedure (eKLEP) exists, there is scope to use it proactively as it is currently not used in practice.
Beyond offering formal channels, there is scope to strengthen the capacity of civil society organisations to meaningfully contribute to policymaking. While some resources are allocated from the European Union initiatives to increase their capacity, further consideration should be given to finding more stable mechanisms to sustain this, for example through state funding mechanisms.
References
[20] Amnesty International (2018), Problematika násilí na ženách optikou české populace (The Issue of Violence Against Women from the Perspective of the Czech Population), PowerPoint presentation, https://www.amnesty.cz/data/file/4254-vvm_problematika-nasili-na-zenach-optikou-ceske-populace.pptx?version=1541109702.
[24] CVVM (2020), Názory veřejnosti na roli muže a ženy v rodině – únor 2020 (Public views on the role of men and women in the family - February 2020), https://cvvm.soc.cas.cz/media/com_form2content/documents/c2/a5181/f9/ov200331.pdf.
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[29] IIR (2022), Gender Equality in Czech Foreign Policy and Development Assistance, Institute of International Relations Prague, https://www.iir.cz/en/gender-equality-in-czech-foreign-policy-and-development-assistance (accessed on September 2022).
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Notes
← 1. Data taken from the 2021 OECD Survey on Gender Mainstreaming and Governance. 26 out of 34 Respondents reporting having a formal requirement for GIAs in place as of 2021.
← 2. In the 2021 OECD Survey on Gender Mainstreaming and Governance, 20 of the 26 respondents (77%) to the specific question reported that they have requirements to conduct ex ante GIAs while just 4 (15%) reported they have requirements to conduct ex post GIAs.
← 3. A government resolution is a binding decision of the government on the basis of existing legislation and regarding important national issues. To be approved, a majority of Cabinet members must agree. The resolution on GIAs covers Cabinet ministers, ministries and other central organs of public administration.
← 4. The GIA Handbook was approved through the Government resolution No. 542 on 8 July 2015.
← 5. An earlier resolution, No. 542 of 8 July 2015, had already ordered members of the government to begin the preparation of measures necessary to segregate data by sex.
← 6. An earlier resolution, No. 542 of July 8, 2015, had already ordered members of the government to begin the preparation of measures necessary to segregate data by sex.
← 7. According to Eurobarometer public opinion survey, 78% of Czech citizens totally agree or tend to agree with the statement “Promoting gender equality is important for you personally”.