Czech Republic

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The Czech Republic’s endeavours to eliminate the gender pay gap are concentrated within the long term project with the current title “EQUAL PAY” (2023-2026) (www.rovnaodmena.cz/) which is a direct follow-up to the project “22% TOWARDS EQUALITY” (2016-2022); both are under the auspices of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA).
The Equal Pay Project does the following: 
•    Measuring the Gender Pay Gap 
We adapted the analytical tool Logib for the environment of the Czech labour law. Employers can use it to find out how much difference exists between the remuneration of women versus men in their own organization. Currently, more than 30 employers are undergoing the analysis. 
The online Wage and Salary Calculator tool provides information on wage and salary levels in specific sectors, industries, positions and regions, based on individually-entered characteristics including years of experience and education.  Individuals can use this calculator to find information on real wage and salary levels currently earned by women and men in specific sectors, industries, positions, and regions based on individually entered characteristics including gender, years of experience, and education. The data used by the calculator are based directly on the Average Earnings Information System database and updated annually. As such, this tool is an up-to-date fine-tuned source of sex-disaggregated statistics on wages.
•    Education and Awareness
We have also been monitoring international communication concerning equal pay and all related topics. Sharing experience has proven to be an effective driving mechanism of progress and we plan to keep doing it, hopefully also with the help of EPIC membership. One example is the last session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women during which we organized a highly attended side-event: NEW OPPORTUNITIES TO REDUCE THE GENDER PAY GAP IN THE DIGITAL AGE: THE EU PAY TRANSPARENCY DIRECTIVE, EXAMPLES OF NATIONAL LEGISLATION, AND FURTHER GOOD PRACTICES GLOBALLY (March 07 ,2023).  
The Czech Presidency of the EU Council in 2022 contributed significantly to the adoption of a new EU legislation: DIRECTIVE (EU) 2023/970 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL, which strengthens the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms, succeeded via a political agreement between the EU Council and the European Parliament. It is a crucial milestone on the road to pay equality. In accordance with this directive, the Czech Republic must now implement concrete policies and practices for pay transparency.
The legal transposition process has already started and the inter-ministerial working group for pay transparency directive has been established. The binding deadline for all legal provisions is set for June 7, 2026.

We are keen on learning how EPIC member countries confront pay transparency and what tools exist to help employers establish payment systems based on the value of work. 

Because we adopted the Swiss tool Logib and invested into its Czech translation, pilot-testing, and even some add-ons, we are especially interested in all Logib development and use, not only in Switzerland but also across the board of EPIC. 

We already pursued this previously via our study of good practices in Canada – mainly Ontario and Quebec  – and their Job Comparison system based on objective factors which took into consideration the skills, efforts, and responsibilities that are often undervalued in jobs performed mainly by women. Spain was also a great inspiration for us;  their Job Evaluation System is very similar to the Canadian one. 

Membership in EPIC will give us the opportunity to further exchange good practices and broaden cooperation with countries that adopted pay equity long ago and have experience, tools, and approaches that can help us design the institutional positioning of pay equity and its further development in the Czech Republic.