As part of the ICT Union on International Women’s Day, we want to remember the road to equality — a road that led from the streets to factories to today’s open offices and data centers. And that road is not finished.
It was Ada Lovelace who wrote the first algorithm. And it was the mathematician and rear admiral Grace Hopper who helped develop the first modern computers. In the beginning, coding was considered “a woman’s job.” It required attention to detail and logical thinking, similar to administrative work — and the salaries were miserable.
As IT became more prestigious — and therefore highly paid — women began to disappear from the field. Today, here in Czechia, women in the so-called STEM fields — science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — are a minority. It is almost as if they had suddenly lost the ability to work with computers. Were Ada and Grace just exceptions?
The government document Strategy for Equality between Women and Men 2021–2030 emphasizes that the ongoing digital transformation must not deepen existing inequalities. The ICT union have long felt a duty to fight this injustice: same work, same pay.
According to data from this document, Czechia in 2018 earned a kind of bronze medal for one of the largest gender wage gaps in the European Union. The difference has long been around 15%. This difference — known as the gender pay gap — is often described as a “motherhood penalty”: a situation in which women returning to work are effectively punished with lower pay as a “thank you” for their family care.
In the ICT Union, we advocate for measures that allow people to combine their personal and working lives. We support equal and transparent pay. We want better working conditions for everyone, every single day of the year.
For this reason, we have decided to monitor the Czech implementation of European Directive 2023/970. Its goal is to strengthen employees’ rights to information about salaries, and member states must implement it by 7 June 2026. Follow us to see what steps come next in this effort.
Finally, we want to thank the organizations Czechitas, PyLadies, CyberLadies, and TheCyberValkyries for their long-term work in bridging the gaps in our society.
A single rose is not enough. If you also believe in fair pay, join the ICT Union.
- Email: support@ictunion.cz
- Phone: +420 775 319 271 (phone/Signal)