Women and labour market in relation to parenthood

The thesis contains a description of the current situation in combining work and family. Principally, the work focuses on women with small children who are recipients of parental allowance or maternity pay and on the system of family support, in particular, the new three-speed systém of parentel allowance. It also addresses issues faced by mothers upon their re-entry on the labour market. The work´s aim was to establish the extent to which patente take advantage of the option to select the period for which they would benefit from parental allowance and the factors influencing their choice. In order to obtain the data required, women on maternity or parental leave and allowance specialists of the state social support department at the Labour Office in Beroun have been interviewed. Quantitative as well as qualitative research methods have been used. Mothers provided information in questionnaires filled in independently by respondents, semi-controlled interviews with individual specialists have been used to obtain information from the allowance specialists at the Labour Office. The finding that resulted from the work is that, out of the three possible alternatives, the three-year alternativ eis the most frequent choice and the two-year alternative is selected by the lowest number of women. The employability of women and the number of children they take care of are the most important criteria affecting thein choice. Low interest in the two-year-olds. Therefore, predominantly women planning another child in the upcoming period who will have to resolve the situation during their next parental leave opt for the two-year alternative. The influence of the mother´s education on the choice of an alternative has not been confirmed. In order to allow mothers with small children to make full use of the new three-speed system and to accomplish the desired effect, i.e. increase in female employment rates, I would recommend, first of all, regulating the ``nurseries`` in a new way, introducing part-time jobs and shared job positions. Without these measures, the new system cannot work efficiently