Zuzana Paroubková, the wife of Prime Minister Jiří Paroubek, caused a minor uproar recently when she said women do not belong in politics.

Paroubková's timing might not have been ideal: Her statement didn't sit well with the public and was ridiculed by the media at a time when the number of female candidates for the upcoming general election in June is at its lowest since the 1989 revolution.

Paroubek's Social Democrats (ČSSD) have only one woman, Hana Orgoníková, running as regional leader. And other parties aren't faring that much better. Overall, only 15 percent of the Chamber of Deputies are women. Compare that to Sweden. Its parliament is 45 percent female. Norway's is 38 percent female.

Paroubek, who made every effort to distance himself from his wife's position, has promised repeatedly to bring more women into the government. But women's advocacy groups say he hasn't lived up to this promise, and female politicians say the atmosphere in the Czech Parliament isn't particularly welcoming to women these days.

"We girls have it much tougher," says Zdeňka Horníková, a deputy for the Civic Democrats (ODS).

According to Horníková, her male counterparts are often vulgar and don't give women much room to express themselves. "I'm quite disgusted and if it wasn't for the support of my family, I wouldn't be in politics," she says.

So why are female politicians such a rare breed in the Czech Republic? And does it really matter?

Some — echoing Horníková — say the reason is that male politicians create an environment in the government that is unappealing or even discouraging for women, while others point out that many women simply aren't interested in political careers.

Being put in the spotlight is another problem. "Female politicians have more attention focused on them than do their male counterparts because there's still so few of them," says Horníková. "They can't ever afford to be unprepared."

Family ties

But Jitka Kupčová, a ČSSD deputy, says the situation isn't that bad. "I personally haven't encountered any negative reactions from my male colleagues," she says.

Probably the biggest obstacles for women wanting to enter politics, according to Kupčová, are family obligations. "It's more difficult for women," she says, "because it's still expected that they will first of all take care of their family."

That's why female politicians often find their lives becoming veritable juggling acts. Horníková recalls times when she simply did not get a chance to cook dinner.

"We would all get home, and there would be nothing to eat," she says.

Horníková's comment is telling: Men may agree that the government could benefit from more women, but they don't seem to be willing to do anything about it on the home front, says Alena Králíková, director of the Gender Studies Center in Prague.

According to Králíková, Czech society remains strongly patriarchal. "We still live by rules largely set by men," she says. "Although often these rules aren't even really all that beneficial to men anymore."

Which isn't to say that male politicians don't want change.

Radek Špicar, deputy vice prime minister for economic affairs who last fall lectured at a conference on women's leadership, says he feels that government could represent women's interests better.

"We should do something about it," he says.

What to do?

But Czechs in general are against imposing things like quotas, something not uncommon in Scandinavian countries, which are leaders when it comes to the number of women in the government, according to the Inter-parliamentary Union, an organization of parliaments of sovereign states.

"I don't think quotas would help," says Kupčová, the ČSSD deputy. "It's up to the women to be more motivated to enter politics."

Špicar, on the other hand, is more willing to give some form of quotas a go. "I am not against quotas on voting tickets. But I don't think there should be quotas when it comes to seats in Parliament or ministry posts."

Králíková says part of the reason why Czechs do not like the idea of quotas is historical. Under communism, there were quotas in place to ensure that there were enough women in government. But that didn't necessarily mean that women's interests were represented, says Králíková. Really, it was just for show.

Ladislav Cabada, a political analyst at the University of West Bohemia in Plzeň, doesn't think the dearth of women in Czech politics is that much of a problem.