SUMARRY The focus of this dissertation is the return to work of women after parental leave. The paper explores the topic of maternity and parental leave and care required by pre-school children. It further looks at the current employment status of these women on the job market, along with the offer of flexible forms of employment. The current situation in the Czech Republic is compared to other countries, mainly member states of the European Union. An empirical study based on a questionnaire survey is also a part of this paper. This survey examines the situation of a number of female employees of VZP ČR on parental leave as well as their managers and employees after return to work from parental leave. Based on the results of the survey, this paper proposes a programme, which should help female employees of VZP ČR with a smoother transition while returning to work.

The U.S. is the only OECD country that does not offer any form of federal paid parental leave. Only three states—California, New Jersey and Rhode Island—have state paid parental leave policies; implemented in 2004, 2009 and 2014, respectively. Through descriptive statistics and a regression analysis of women and men’s wages in those three states, before and after the implementation of the policies, we assess the effects of paid leave programs on the gender wage gaps in those states. Our results show us that California’s paid family leave policy had greater effects on decreasing the gender wage gap than the policies in New Jersey and Rhode Island. In addition, our regression analysis shows us that women of childbearing age (19-45 years) saw an increase in their wages after the policy implementations, while men of childbearing age saw a decrease in their wages. This led us to the conclusion that paid family leave policies may be effective in decreasing the gender wage gap; however it is problematic that men’s wages decreased, implying that the policies may not be totally welfare optimizing. However, we came to an important conclusion that will hopefully entice more states and the federal government to implement policies to better support working parents.

The U.S. is the only OECD country that does not offer any form of federal paid parental leave. Only three states—California, New Jersey and Rhode Island—have state-provided paid leave policies; implemented in 2004, 2009 and 2014, respectively. Through descriptive statistics and difference-in-difference-in-difference regression analyses of the wages of women and men of childbearing age (19-45 years) in those three states, we assess whether the paid leave programs have effected wages, and whether these effects vary depending on gender. Our results show that wages of women of childbearing age saw negligible net effects post-policy in policy states, although statistically insignificant. On the other hand, the wages of men of childbearing age saw improvements post-policy implementation in policy states, compared to wages in non-policy states. Although the policies do not necessarily widen the gender wage gap, they do not work to help close it, due to flaws in the policies. To be more effective in reducing gender wage gaps, these policies need to increase the amount of paid support, and implement job protection rights in order to decrease the opportunity costs of men taking leave. If more men are able to take paid leave, then potentially parts of the gender wage gap that are due to employers viewing women as less attached to the workforce can decrease. Through this research we came to important conclusions that highlight the ways in which support of working parents in the US is lacking, and offered recommendations to create more equitable and effective policies.

in English Obstacles to work as a set of legal facts have fundamental influence on employment relations and concern each and every employee as well as employer (correlatively). The goal of this thesis was to explore this area of employment law thoroughly and to indicate individual rights and duties of both parties in employment relations, including those which surpass the Labour Code and its implementing legislation. This was to be accomplished by providing a comprehensive treatise on the subject with solutions to possible unexpected situations not covered in the Labour Code. Obstacles to work are defined as legally acknowledged circumstances that - on the part of the employee - impede or forbid the performance of work, and - on the part of the employer - impede or forbid the assignment of work, in cases when the employee"s absence from work is excused by the employer in compliance with the terms stated by employment laws, internal regulations or employment contract. Compensatory wage or salary and conditions of payment to idle workers are determined by the above-mentioned documents. The introduction of this doctoral thesis deals with the reasons why this particular topic was chosen and introduces Eurostat"s surveys which are further analyzed to the details. The main objective of this thesis is to...

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of working women when they announce their pregnancies, take maternity leave, transition back to work, and utilize flexible work policies. Using a qualitative methodology, transcripts of in-depth interviews were analyzed utilizing a life history approach. Key findings of the study are that women perceive more negative responses to the announcement of their pregnancies than positive ones. In terms of maternity and parental leave policies, all the participants had access to these benefits. Women found issues with financial adequacy, administration, and duration of these policies. Mothers found that financial support from the Canadian government was inadequate to allow them to take the full duration of the 52-week maternity and parental leave for which they were eligible. In addition, employer “top-up” payments were limited and administrative details of maternity leave were often not discussed fully with pregnant workers. When women returned to work, they found that workplaces did not offer resources such as a phased-in return to work or personnel to help them re-engage with their prior work projects. Women discussed the challenges of managing their dual roles of worker and mother and found that managers and coworkers put them in a mommy mould which lessened the quality of their assignments. New mothers found that they had difficultly juggling their work and home responsibilities, finding time for themselves, and receiving increased domestic support from their spouses. While some workplaces offered women flexible workplace policies, not all mothers chose to access them as they found these policies often negatively impacted their career progression. Other issues were a lack of flexible workplace policy transparency, inconsistent manager support, and difficulty maintaining a flexible schedule. Findings have major implications for an improved response from managers upon pregnancy announcement, improved dialogue among employers about increasing “top up” maternity leave pay to new mothers, developing a formal transition plan for new mothers returning to the workplace, and expanding the use of flexible workplace policies.

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of working women when they announce their pregnancies, take maternity leave, transition back to work, and utilize flexible work policies. Using a qualitative methodology, transcripts of in-depth interviews were analyzed utilizing a life history approach. Key findings of the study are that women perceive more negative responses to the announcement of their pregnancies than positive ones. In terms of maternity and parental leave policies, all the participants had access to these benefits. Women found issues with financial adequacy, administration, and duration of these policies. Mothers found that financial support from the Canadian government was inadequate to allow them to take the full duration of the 52-week maternity and parental leave for which they were eligible. In addition, employer “top-up” payments were limited and administrative details of maternity leave were often not discussed fully with pregnant workers. When women returned to work, they found that workplaces did not offer resources such as a phased-in return to work or personnel to help them re-engage with their prior work projects. Women discussed the challenges of managing their dual roles of worker and mother and found that managers and coworkers put them in a mommy mould which lessened the quality of their assignments. New mothers found that they had difficultly juggling their work and home responsibilities, finding time for themselves, and receiving increased domestic support from their spouses. While some workplaces offered women flexible workplace policies, not all mothers chose to access them as they found these policies often negatively impacted their career progression. Other issues were a lack of flexible workplace policy transparency, inconsistent manager support, and difficulty maintaining a flexible schedule. Findings have major implications for an improved response from managers upon pregnancy announcement, improved dialogue among employers about increasing “top up” maternity leave pay to new mothers, developing a formal transition plan for new mothers returning to the workplace, and expanding the use of flexible workplace policies.

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Centro de Ciências Médicas / Centro Social Nossa Senhora das Graças / O aleitamento materno exclusivo é recomendado pela Organização Mundial da Saúde até os seis meses de vida da criança, e o trabalho materno pode interferir na sua prática. No Brasil, a legislação garante a licença-maternidade de 120 dias para as trabalhadoras formais. O presente estudo teve por objetivo analisar a associação entre o trabalho materno com licença-maternidade e a prática do aleitamento materno exclusivo. Foi conduzido um estudo transversal em 2013 com mães de crianças menores de seis meses, assistidas pelas nove unidades básicas de saúde com Posto de Recebimento de Leite Humano Ordenhado do município do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil (n=429). Características sociodemográficas maternas, domiciliares, da assistência pré-natal, do parto, do estilo de vida materno, da criança, da assistência à saúde e da alimentação infantil foram investigadas por meio de entrevistas. Análises univariada, bivariada e múltipla foram realizadas, sendo obtidas razões de prevalências ajustadas (RPa) por regressão de Poisson com variância robusta, segundo modelo conceitual hierarquizado. O modelo final foi composto pelas variáveis que se associaram (p≤0,05) ao aleitamento materno exclusivo (desfecho). Entre as mães entrevistadas, 23,1% estavam em licença-maternidade e 17,2% estavam trabalhando. A prevalência de aleitamento materno exclusivo em menores de seis meses foi de 50,1%. O trabalho materno com licença-maternidade se associou a uma maior prevalência do desfecho (RPa=1,91; IC95% 1,32-2,77), comparado às mães que trabalhavam sem licença-maternidade. Prevalências menores de aleitamento materno exclusivo se associaram à cor de pele/raça materna não branca (RPa=0,81), à ausência de companheiro (RPa=0,60), à realização de menos de seis consultas pré-natais (RPa=0,62), ao consumo materno de bebida alcoólica (RPa=0,60), à idade crescente da criança em meses (RPa=0,69) e ao uso de chupeta (RPa=0,67). A licença-maternidade contribuiu para a prática do aleitamento materno exclusivo em crianças menores de seis meses de vida, indicando a importância desse benefício na proteção do aleitamento materno exclusivo para as mulheres inseridas no mercado de trabalho formal / The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding up to six months of life, and maternal work can interfere with this practice. In Brazil, the legislation guarantees maternity leave of 120 days for formal workers. This study aimed to analyze the association between maternal work with maternity leave and the practice of exclusive breastfeeding. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2013 with mothers of children under six months of life, assisted by the nine primary health care units with Human Milk Donation Services in Rio de Janeiro city, Brazil (n=429). Maternal sociodemographic and residence characteristics, prenatal care, childbirth, maternal lifestyle, characteristics of the infant, health care and infant feeding were investigated through interviews. Univariate, bivariate and multiple analyzes were performed, and adjusted prevalence ratios (APR) were obtained by Poisson regression with robust variance, according to a hierarchical conceptual model. The final model was composed by the variables associated (p≤0.05) with exclusive breastfeeding (outcome). Among mothers interviewed, 23.1% were on maternity leave and 17.2% were working. The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding in children under six months was 50.1%. Maternal work with maternity leave was associated with a higher prevalence of the outcome (APR=1.91; CI95% 1.32-2.77), compared to mothers who worked without maternity leave. Lower prevalences of exclusive breastfeeding were associated with non-white maternal skin color/breed (APR=0.81), absence of a partner (APR=0.60), less than six prenatal visits (APR=0.62), maternal consumption of alcoholic beverage (APR=0.60), increasing age of the child in months (APR=0.69) and pacifier use (APR=0.67). Maternity leave contributed to the practice of exclusive breastfeeding in children under six months of life, indicating the importance of this benefit in the protection of exclusive breastfeeding for women in the formal labor market

The thesis deals with the role of media in the life of "young" parents. The theoretical part presents the current trends in the attitude to printed and online media for a selected target group, specifically women and men on maternity and parental leave. The principal question of the thesis is the attitude of a selected group of people to the media content. Has the relation to the media subjectively changed in this new life role? The research method is a qualitative interview with ten respondents (seven women and three men). The analysis is based on methods of grounded theory - first at the level of open coding, then the axial coding. The conclusion summarizes the researched findings, and among other things, whether the interviewees see changes in their relation to the media due to parenthood and if they do, which changes they realize.

In der Zeit der Weimarer Republik war Adele Schreiber eine der bekanntesten Frauen Deutschlands und in allen Verzeichnissen bekannter deutscher Frauen zu finden. Durch den Bruch in ihrem Leben, herbeigeführt durch die sich abzeichnende Herrschaft der Nationalsozialisten, die sie ins Exil zwang, geriet sie in Vergessenheit und war schon nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg in die Bedeutungslosigkeit gefallen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit soll nicht nur das Leben Adele Schreibers an sich, sondern auch ihre Position in der Frauenbewegung ab der Jahrhundertwende thematisiert werden, die zahlreichen Querverbindungen zwischen den einzelnen Organisationen, aber auch zwischen Adele Schreiber und anderen Mitstreiterinnen. Adele Schreiber ist eine derjenigen Frauen, die seit der Jahrhundertwende in vorderster Reihe in der Frauenbewegung mitgekämpft haben. Setzte sie sich, 1898 in Berlin angekommen, zuerst intensiv für die Schaffung einer Frauenversicherung ein, so kämpfte sie wenig später gleichermaßen für das Frauenwahlrecht und engagierte sich im Mutter- und Kinderschutz. Doch neben aller sozialpolitisch engagierten Arbeit und journalistischer Tätigkeit für die Durchsetzung der Rechte der Frau war Adele Schreiber auch politisch tätig. Als Reichstagsmitglied der SPD ab 1920 bemühte sie sich auf politischer Ebene um eine gesetzlich festgelegte Anerkennung und Mündigkeit der Frau. Selbst nach dem Exil, das sie in der Schweiz und in Großbritannien verbrachte, verfolgte sie bis zu ihrem Tod 1957 mit wachen Augen die politischen Entwicklungen in Deutschland und der Welt. / During the time of the Weimar republic, Adele Schreiber was one of the most famous women in Germany and could be found all the accounts by well-known German women. Due to the break in her life brought about by the threatening seizure of power by the National Socialists which forced her into exile, she became forgotten and by the end of the Second World War she had already disappeared into insignificance. The following work attempts not only to explore the life of Adele Schreiber itself, but also her position in the women's movement from the turn of the century onwards, the numerous inter-connections between the separate organisations and between Adele Schreiber and other fellow-activists. Adele Schreiber is among those women who fought in the front line of the women's movement from the turn of the century onwards. Having initially committed herself intensively, as a newcomer in Berlin in 1898, to the cause of introducing an insurance for women, she fought equally hard a short time later for women's suffrage and she became involved in the issues of maternity leave and child protection. But besides all her committed socio-political activities and her work as a journalist for the attainment of women's rights, Adele Schreiber was also politically active. As a member of the Reichstag for the SPD from 1920 onwards, she strived in the political arena for a legally effective acknowledgement and declaration of women as political entities. Even after she went into exile in Switzerland and Great Britain she followed vigilantly the political developments in Germany and throughout the world until her death in 1957.

The United States is the only developed nation that fails to provide its citizens with paid parental leave. The lack of parental benefit provision operates to the detriment of individuals and society as a whole by contributing to inequity across gender, race, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation. As the demographics of the American workforce have changed, public policy has not kept pace. Paid parental leave is associated a number of health, economic, and social benefits. However, the greatest barrier to legislating paid parental leave is the philosophical underpinnings of American politics, specifically the strong current of liberal individualism and absence of maternalism. This thesis examines the policy option space for paid parental leave in the United States and recommends a paid parental leave policy that is gender-neutral and has a combination of three months individual leave and three months of shared leave at 100 percent wage replacement.