Women today do not reject careers, relationships, motherhood, or personal growth. Increasingly, however, they are questioning a model in which they are expected to manage all of these roles simultaneously while bearing a disproportionate share of the costs and receiving insufficient institutional support. The gap between women’s aspirations and their ability to achieve them has a direct impact on their well-being, relationships, and decisions about parenthood.

Key takeaways:

• Expanding opportunities for women has not replaced traditional expectations—it has added to them.
• In the Czech Republic, responsibility for childcare and household duties remains unevenly distributed, with women carrying most of the burden.
• Social media intensifies pressure to excel, maintain an ideal appearance, and project a perfectly balanced life. These external pressures can contribute to mental health challenges.
• Low fertility is also linked to the gap between people’s desire to have children and the conditions that make parenthood feasible.

Policy Paper – Irena Krcháková

The analysis is in PDF under the link below.