Czech Republic women aim for equality

Gender equality sees women drop ová - 28th June 2021

Women in the Czech Republic may soon have equal rights to the masculine versions of their surnames. The Chamber of Deputies has backed an amendment abolishing a legal requirement for women’s surnames to carry a feminine suffix.

Czech linguistic convention adds the feminine ending "-ová" to all noun surnames, and “-á" to the majority of other surnames, when used by women. This means the sister of a man with the nation’s most common surname, ‘Mr Novak’, or Newman, becomes ‘Ms Novaková’.

For many, this practice is seen as discriminatory and, in search of linguistic and social equality, they’d rather adopt the masculine form as a route to removing gender bias from naming conventions.

Brought forward by former Justice Minister Helena Valková, the amendment remedies what she called an "unjustified unequal position”, explaining that it “can lead to absurd situations". She cited the fact that a woman resident in Slovakia, formerly a single country with the republic until the 1993 Velvet Divorce dissolved Czechoslovakia, faces no impediment to changing her surname. However, the restriction on women living in the Czech Republic denies them this fundamental right.

The amendment cleared the Chamber of Deputies, 91 to 33 voting in favour of allowing women the freedom to take the masculine form of their surname. However, another proposal removing gender identification from ID cards altogether was rejected.

The grammatical gendering of surnames, similar to that seen in other Slavic languages, is also applied to foreign women’s names including leaders and politicians such as former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The matter has polarised opinion. While a survey carried out by Radio Prague International showed around 28 per cent of women wished to use the masculine form of their surname, most linguists in the country backed the current practice. They argue the feminine ending is central to Czech grammatical declension and its omission would lead to confusion over gender and inflection.

Having gained approval in the Chamber of Deputies, Valkova's proposal will be placed before the Senate for deliberation and a decision on its fate.