During the main discussion panel, the head representative of the European Commission in the Czech Republic, Monika Ladmanová, as well as senator Adéla Šípová, spoke about three priorities in the context of the European Commission's diversity and inclusion agenda, namely equal representation of women and men in leadership positions, work-life balance and equal pay."The employers´ and businesses´ opinion is absolutely essential for the society. The percentage of women in management or in the supervisory boards is already a matter of corporate reputation," said Senator Adéla Šípová in the discussion.

The challenge with the representation of women is a complex problem concerning maternity and parental leave, especially for women. The senate is currently debating the revision of so called "Barcelona goals", which recommend increasing the capacity of pre-school facilities for children under the age of three. In the Czech Republic, the number of such children has been decreasing in recent years, and now we are approximately at 6% according to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. This is one of the key reasons why women in the Czech Republic stay at maternity leave longer and do not return back to work. "Czech Republic lacks enough qualified employees. I mean that we have them, but they're at home. This problem needs to be adressed," says Adéla Šípová.

As of work-life balance, our members and signatories offer many inspiring examples of best practice in implementing the flexibility at work and hybrid work mode that enables combining work and private life or family.

Since 2005, the gender pay gap has been measured internationally and results show the average difference of 13% in EU. In the Czech Republic it is even more, it is around 16,5%.  That is why the European Commission adopted the „Pay Transparency Directive“ which provides principles for more transparency and effective enforcement of the equal pay between women and men as well as improves access to justice for victims of pay discrimination. Again, we can say that our members and signatories actively deal with this topic and take necessary steps to be fair and transparent.

The highlight of the ceremonial event was the accession of new signatories to the Diversity Charter and acceptance of the Certificate from Mrs. Monika Ladmanová and Mrs. Adéla Šípová. Thank you to companies that adopted the Diversity Charter principles and joined our „family:“ Toyota Motor Manufacturing Czech Republic, FAURECIA Forvia, Continental Czech Republic, Medtronic Czechia, s.r.o., MALFINI a.s., NN Životní pojišťovna N.V., Czech republic branch, Siemens Mobility, s.r.o., Beiersdorf s.r.o., Sodexo Pass Czech Republic a.s., National Agency for Communication and Information Technologies, s.p.