Listen to the full interview with MEP Radka Maxová in context:
“In the first round, I voted for Professor Danúsa Nerutová, and one of the reasons is that I really like having a woman in the Czech Republic’s highest constitutional office,” says the politician. She serves as Vice-Chair of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality in the European Parliament.
He thinks the former rector of the Mendel University in Brno would also be suitable for the president because he is a good negotiator. During the campaign, Nerudova also addressed the topic of sexism against women in public. She later sparked controversy by saying she was “young and beautiful” and that this was her flaw.
Maxová confirms that she has experienced references to her figure or clothes in her life, but “it depends on how the girl feels about it and how she wants to deal with it”. However, that didn’t bother her too much. She adds that unlike in the Czech Republic, she has not encountered a culture of sexism and incitement in the European Parliament.
In the mentioned EP group, men are the most appropriate members to promote “female” topics. “At the EP, they are very actively involved in the letters we send to governments that want to restrict reproductive rights, the ban on abortion, women’s rights,” Maxova continues, adding that there was also a controversial topic. A decision requiring companies with a certain number of employees to disclose the differences between the salaries of women and men in the same position.
His group’s current topic is the clarification of the new definition of the crime of rape. According to the politician, the law discussed by MEPs in this context should also be an addition to the Istanbul Convention. Many countries, including the Czech Republic, have yet to ratify it.
The convention aims to protect women and children, as well as men, from domestic and sexual violence, which has increased significantly during the pandemic. “I’m not saying that this convention will eradicate violence against women, but there are points related to services and the protection of victims, which are now supplemented by the new directive,” Maxová explains.
According to him, the care system for victims of domestic violence is inadequate. She has personal experience with this, she says on the podcast. “I’m talking about psychological and physical violence. It’s not good, but it’s an experience. “Women are afraid to report domestic violence because they’re afraid of the aggressors,” she warns.
“I don’t want to compare it, but if someone hits a dog on the street, everyone is offended, but if someone hits a woman, child or man, you look away,” he says.
The debate over the proposal to make menstrual aids easier for women has sparked a lot of controversy. Although this was not an idea of the Czech Republic, many Czech men criticized it for not getting anything out of it. “I take them to elementary school, where the biological differences between boys and girls are discussed,” Maksova explains. According to him, youths are more interested in available contraceptives than pads to the authorities.
On the topic of women, she says she was once not in favor of forced quotas, but now she sees it differently. “We can wait another hundred years for women’s representation to ever increase by half a percent,” she comments, adding that in countries where quotas have been introduced, women have quickly reached high positions and public life.
“Women also loot, they are different. And in my view it would be interesting to dilute it fifty to fifty. Women have more social consciousness, they solve problems differently, they communicate differently. I don’t know why men don’t get into politics. They are afraid of their positions. Unfortunately, some of the world “We see that in regions – and in our neighboring countries – they are starting to go back to the past. Women’s rights are being taken away, taken away. I don’t want women to be unable to make decisions about their bodies. That’s why they should be in politics,” she added.
Does the Czech Republic deserve a president? What do women who work in public face? What can the Committee for Women’s Rights and Gender Equality solve that burdens women’s daily lives? Listen to the Environment Podcast to learn more!
