Parental Leave as a Tool of Work-life Balance in the Czech Republic and Sweden

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the legislation of parental leave in the Czech Republic and in Sweden in particular with respect to the possibilities of work-life balance, to evaluate an actual use of the system, its impacts on the individual labour markets and gender equality, to subsequently compare these two models and to propose amendments of legislation. The topic was chosen due to its significant impact on a vast amount of people and due to its currency with respect to a progressive change of perception of single parent's roles. The thesis is divided into five chapters following the main aim of the thesis, a comparison of several legislations. The first Chapter shortly describes the main terminology which has been used within the thesis and which is the main subject matter of the paper. Maternity, parental and paternity leave are defined mainly with respect to the purposes of the individual matters. The second Chapter deals with the legislation of the European Union. The relation of the Czech and European law in this field in general is analysed at first. An overview of legal documents related to the so called "family friendly policies" follows and the core of the chapter is the description of particular legislation of maternity, parental and paternity leave based on corresponding..