Chapter 4: Disappearing Dissidents: Female Leaders and Politics in Post-Communist Czech Republic

Czechoslovak women played an important role in the country’s opposition movement prior to 1989. One third of all Charter 77¹ manifesto spokespersons and over half of the members of the Committee for Unjustly Prosecuted (VONS) were women (Precan, 1990). Because of a gender quota system, female representatives held 30% of the communist legislative seats, although during state socialism this representation was only symbolic in nature. In addition, women held reserved positions among members of the top Communist party body, the Presidium.

However, after the “Velvet Revolution” in 1989, the share of the federal parliamentary seats occupied by women instantly fell to 10.7% as the result of the June 1990 elections, and further to 8.7% after the 1992 elections (Wolchik, 1996). When the Civic Forum was formed, the umbrella organization established to negotiate with the communist officials and lead the country to its first free elections, 17 of its 18 leaders were men (Honajzer, 1996). The lack of political freedom during the totalitarian rule prevented both women and men from any meaningful participation in formal politics. Both Western scholars and the Czech public were nonetheless surprised by the virtual absence of women from Czechoslovak political institutions after 1989 (Watson, 1993).