Equal opportunities on the threshold of Czech homes
Domestic worker who does your ironing, shopping and cooking for you, baby-sitters with perfect English or house cleaners who will come to your house a few times a week – or all of this in one person. Nothing unusual about that in the Czech households of late. There are also specialized agencies offering baby-sitters from the Phillipines or cleaners from the Ukraine. These particular women form, however, one of the most vulnerable migrant groups.
As of July 1 2012, the Association for Integration and Migration, in cooperation with People In Need, the media agency Oglivy&Mather and the Economics Institute of the ASCR,- launched a project to support migrant women working in Czech households.
Through the activities of this project, we advocateD for equal opportunities for female foreigners in the labour market and improveD their often uneasy positions in society and their access to employment opportunities.
Female foreigners working in the Czech Republic often face various forms of discrimination within the labour market, whether on grounds of nationality, gender or in relation to their work as household maids, which mainly includes violations of working hours, low wages, personal freedom restrictions, etc. In cases involving residence illegitimacy, illegal work or insufficient knowledge, these issues of discrimination can be further amplified.
Under this project, foreign women working in the Czech Republic were provided with
- free legal and social counselling, including instructional courses and
- new special website with practical information and contacts: www.pracovnicevdomacnosti.cz/en. This website contains useful information for foreign female workers together with information focused on the topic of housework for employers, information targeted for the general public and information for experts, including the results of research which will map the economical and social status of these women during the project.
The issue of female houseworkers has not previously been a subject of our research, therefore the individual outcomes and experiences were presented through the
The results of this research were presented to government representatives and responsible politicians who can affect Czech legislation and migrant politics. One of the main objectives of the project was to create space for social debate on the topics of equal opportunities and the professional and social statuses of foreign female workers in society. An additional main objective is to bring about reflection on the current situation in a way that will lead to greater empathy, a stronger sense of responsibility and a further understanding of the specific conditions in which these women are. The topic of domestic work is was integrated and promoted by an unique communication campaign which started in the beginning of the year 2013.
The press release about the project launch you can find here
ALL THE PROJECT INFORMATION YOU CAN FIND ON WWW.PRACOVNICEVDOMACNOSTI.CZ
Contacts:
Magda Faltová, project coordinator, faltova@refug.cz, 224 224 379
Marie Heřmanová, media coverage expert, People In Need, marie.hermanova@clovekvtisni.cz, +420 777 782 088
Kateřina Dederová, PR SIMI, dederova@refug.cz, 224 224 379
Project "Equal opportunities on the threshold of Czech homes", is financed by the European Social Fund through the Operational Program Human Resources and Employment and the Czech Republic state budget. The project is implemented by the Association for Integration and Migration in the cooperation with People in Need, Ogilvy&Mather and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
