Employment breaks due to childcare in the Czech Republic. Before and after 1989.

The main aim of this paper is to analyze how Czech mothers perceive the consequences for their careers of interruptions in their participation in the labour market due to childcare. In particular, these women's perceptions of the impact of breaks in employment on their further career are examined in light of whether they had their children prior to or after the fall of the socialist regime The analyses are based on the European Social Survey data from 2004 and were conducted in two steps. In the first step, the paper examines patterns of labour market interruptions due to childcare in different time periods as a function of existing maternity and parental leave legislation. In the second step, the paper analyses how the regime change affected the perceptions of consequences of such career. The analyses reveal that the patterns of career interruptions due to childcare and their perception by women have changed over time depending on the institutional and legal context, and that the fall of the socialist regime had a significant impact on both behaviour and perceptions of Czech mothers.employment interruptions ; childcare ; regime change

Attitudes to Family Policy Arrangements in Relation to Attitudes to Family and division of Labour between Genders

The main aims of the paper are to analyse and compare attitudes of inhabitants of eleven European countries toward the state family policy arrangements in the light of people’s attitudes regarding family and marriage, and division of labour between men and women; and to identify which countries cluster together regarding such attitudes. In particular we test whether respondents’ attitudes toward the above phenomena differ significantly between EU-15 countries and new member states. The analysis is based on the data coming from two international surveys: International policy acceptance study 2000-2003 (IPPAS) and International social survey program 2002 (ISSP).attitudes ; family policy ; family ; gender division of labour

Attitudes toward immigrants in Luxembourg - Do contacts matter?

According to the latest official statistics, the number of immigrants in Luxembourg is approaching half the population. This demographic change raises questions concerning social inclusion, social cohesion, and intergroup conflicts. The present paper contributes to this discussion by analyzing attitudes toward immigrants and their determinants. Controlling for key socio-demographic and economic individual characteristics, we focus specifically on examining how the intensity of core contacts between nationals and inhabitants with migratory background affects attitudes toward immigrants among three groups of Luxembourg residents: natives, first-generation immigrants, and second-generation immigrants. The European Values Study data of 2008 was used in the paper. The results indicate that attitudes toward immigrants depend significantly on the origins of the residents of Luxembourg. Nationals adopt the most negative stance toward immigrants; they are followed by second-generation and first-generation immigrants. Attitudes of second-generation immigrants are closer to those of the native population than to those of first-generation immigrants, which confirms the assimilation hypotheses. Core contacts appear to play the most important role in the case of first-generation immigrants. The more connected the first-generation migrant to the native population, the more negative his/her opinion of immigrants.attitudes toward immigrants; contact theory; migratory background; EVS

Women’s Perceptions of Consequences of Career Interruption due to Childcare in Central and Eastern Europe

The paper aims to examine the effect of the transition from a socialist regime to democracy and liberal economy on women’s perceptions of the consequences of breaks in labour market participation due to childcare on their further careers in seven post-socialist countries. More precisely, it investigates whether women in Central and Eastern Europe who gave birth to at least one child after 1987 were more likely to experience negative consequences for their further professional life as a result of career interruptions due to childcare than women who had their children during the socialist era. The analysis is conducted in two steps. In the first step, the effect of the political transition is examined in the Central European region as a whole, thus on the pooled data including all the seven countries. In the second step, the paper tests whether the effect of the transition varies significantly from country to country, and if yes, in which countries it had the biggest impact. In both steps, the effect of the transition is examined while controlling for selected individual characteristics that are mentioned in the literature as possible predictors of subjective evaluation of consequences of career breaks on women’s further professional development. In the paper we use data from the 2004 European Social Survey.female emloyement ; labour market inactivity ; child care ; subjective indicators

A multidimensional assessment of social cohesion in 47 European countries

This paper presents a theoretically based, multidimensional and comparable measurementof social cohesion applicable in 47 European countries using the most recent micro-level data of European Value Study (EVS) from 2008. The analysis is conducted in four steps. In the first part, we create a set of measurable intermediate indicators that correspond to social cohesion dimensions suggested by the theory. In the second part, we verify whether these indicators empirically corroborate the multidimensional structure of the concept proposed by the theory. The third part examines whether the obtained intermediate indicators of social cohesion form the same constructs across countries and whether they can yield a cross country equivalent measure of social cohesion. In the fourth step, composite scores of all dimensions of social cohesion are calculated for all 47 countries to demostrate applicability of this constructed measurement in comparative research.social cohesion; measurement equivalence; multidimensional scaling; LISREL; multidimensional indicators

Occupational Gender Segregation in the light of the Segregation in Education: A Cross-National Comparison

The main aims of this article are to conduct a cross-national comparison of levels of occupational gender segregation and to examine the relation between the level of occupational gender segregation and gender segregation in education (both vertical and horizontal). The analyses include 18 European countries covered by the European Social Survey (ESS) conducted in 2004. The comparison pays a special attention to the position of the Czech Republic and differences and similarities between the EU-15 countries and the new EU member states, i.e. post-socialist countries.gender segregation ; occupational segregation ; cross-national segregatio

Experience with the use of warm mix asphalt additives in bitumen binders

In most European countries, Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) technology is still being used as the standard for the production and processing of bituminous mixtures. However, from the perspective of environmental acceptability, global warming and greenhouse gas production, Slovakia is making an effort to put into practice modern technology, which is characterized by lower energy consumption and reducing negative impacts on the environment. Warm mix asphalt technologies (WMA), which have been verified at the Department of Transportation Engineering laboratory, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Slovak University of Technology (FCE, SUT) can provide the required mixture properties and can be used not only for the construction of new roads, but also for their renovation and reconstruction. The paper was created in cooperation with the Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic, which also deals with the addition of additives to asphalt mixtures and binders. It describes a comparison of the impact of some organic and chemical additives on the properties of commonly used bitumen binders in accordance with valid standards and technical regulations.Web of Science261393

The European Greenbuilding Programme 2006-2009 - Evaluation

GreenBuilding is a voluntary programme aiming at improving the energy efficiency of non residential buildings in Europe on voluntary basis. The programme addresses owners of non residential buildings to realise costeffective measures which enhance the energy efficiency of their buildings in one or more technical services. The present report summarizes the results of the first four-year operation of the GreenBuilding Programme, in terms of the main energy efficiency measures in the buildings and related savings, as well as the GreenBuilding Partners¿ motivations and experience in carrying out the efficiency measures.JRC.DDG.F.8-Renewable Energy (Ispra

The Legitimacy of Redistribution: the Czech Republic in International Comparison

In this paper we pay attention to the legitimacy of the principles, scope and purpose of redistribution in Czech society. We use data from international surveys from the second half of the nineties, including European Values Study 1999 and ISSP 1996 – module Role of the Government and some national Czech surveys. We claim that Czech society does not favour extensive redistribution at the level of principles. Nevertheless, demand for redistribution is stronger compared to the other European countries and preferences for state responsibility and redistribution increased during nineties. Furthermore, the purpose of redistribution seems to play a central role. While benefits for marginalised groups are not supported, mainstream benefits should be increased according to the public, and the strategies to improve human capital and capabilities to adapt in the labour market gain support as well. The Czech public also prefers to combine collective (social) protection with private supplementary insurance schemes against risks of the contemporary society. There are remarkable differences in most of the above described attitudes among social classes. The above described findings may be explained by the social consequences of market transition: specifically by impacts of new social risks differentiated according to class position combined with restrictive social policies implemented during the nineties.Lagitimacy ; Redistribution ; Social Protection