The project started in 2020 to respond to the gap between male and female earnings. This difference has decreased in the past two years due to various factors, according to the latest Eurostat data, the average difference between the gross hourly earnings of men and women in the European Union is 13%. Compared to other EU countries, the Czech Republic is in 16th place with a salary difference of 16.4%.

Our ambition was focused on specific goals for the labour market in the Zlín region and through support, mentoring, education and employment support for women in STEM programs to contribute to improving the career and financial situation of the involved women.

There was a lot of interest in the project's activities and we were able to involve different groups. We approached several employers where a mentoring program was taking place with chosen women to support their career development. We also worked with women who were currently looking for prospective employment.

We´ve supported a total of 46 women in the project. All of them were involved in the counselling program and specified their individual development plan together with the job counsellors. A large number of women participate in education, both professional and managerial seminars. A total of 18 participants received a new professional qualification thanks to the project. The interest was mainly in business and marketing on social media, which has great possibilities as well as very promising field of software testing.

In the project, we also worked directly with employers and enabled them to draw wage contributions when meeting the project conditions. There were 12 new jobs created thanks to the project.

The project managed to fulfil the planned goals and contribute to better conditions for women on the labour market in the Zlín region. Important success factors were the long-term and systematic support of the target group and the involvement of various labour market stakeholders, e.g. employers, workplace mentors, psychologists, as well as successful women who inspired the target group at seminars.

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In addition to gender stereotypes, the seminar also discussed the topic of discrimination against women in the labor market, what its forms and manifestations may take, and how to deal with it.

The main goal of the seminar was to support the participants of the project "I‘ll get better!" in the decision to make a change in the current situation on the labor market. Project participants have long been supported in career growth and employment in promising and financially interesting areas. The contribution of the successful Head of Operations and Assembly in one company in the Zlin Region was inspiring. The discussion and mutual motivation took place in a pleasant atmosphere.

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Throughout our project „ I will get better! The opportunity for women in the Zlín region to be successful in highly paid job fields“ we have planned to implement a number of educational activities as well as introduce successful women. These plans were affected by the COVID-19 epidemic and the consequent restrictions on gathering, but in a short break in September 2020 we managed to hold a small awareness-raising seminar in which a woman who achieved a prominent position at IBM shared her experience.

She is currently in the position of a Team Leader and is in charge of an all-male team. She spoke about working in the technical field and working with men. To make it more up to the project, the seminar took place in VH Konstrukce – developer and construction company, which again might be seen as another typical male company. We would like to follow up on the seminar with other activities.

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