This section will summarize indicators within family policy that lead to the answering of my research questions. First, I would like to focus on the financial and non-financial form of support, then I would like to compare the approach to institutional care and the division of gender roles in both countries.
First we get to the comparison of financial support during maternity. The first important factor is maternity leave. By evaluating the maternity allowance, we came to the conclusion that the Czech Republic has better conditions, mainly in the length of maternity leave. The length of maternity benefit is in the Czech Republic more than twice as long, exactly 16 weeks longer than in Austria. For this reason, a Czech citizens receive more out of this benefit than Austrian citizens. The disadvantage in the Czech Republic is the complexity of the calculation and the subsequent reduction of the amount according to salary. There is also a progressive calculation, which means that the more people earn, the lower the percentage of their income they receive. In Austria, on the other hand, the citizen receives an amount equal to his/her previous salary, which better compensates for the loss of income during maternity leave. The Czech state makes more significant differences between the non-working and working mother when drawing the meternity leave. The setting of drawing the maternity allowance in the Czech Republic significantly disadvantages non-working women, the entitlement arises only from the fact whether the woman has been participating in sickness and social insurance for at least 270 days. Disadvantaged are mainly female students or recent
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graduates, as well as unemployed women and those who, for example, cannot work or cannot find a job due to an obstacle. Women thus lack certainty in family planning.
After maternity leave, a parental allowance is paid in both countries. Both, in the Czech Republic and in Austria, it is possible to draw the dose according to the chosen length.
If we look at the total amount of funds paid out per child, a total of 300,000 CZK (EUR 11,600) is paid out in the Czech Republic. Austria, on the other hand, offers more drawing opportunities, which also responds more flexibly to the New Social Risks and offers better conditions for mothers with young children to integrate back into the labor market. A total of EUR 12 366 is paid when receiving a parental benefit in Austria.
When drawing the income based parental leave, the maximum annual amount of the contribution is EUR 24,090. In the Czech Republic, the length of the drawdown is a year longer than in Austria, however, this does not play any role in the amount of financial contributions that are paid to one child. In Austria, entitlement to maternity allowance also arises from participation in sickness insurance, as in the Czech Republic, but in addition, unemployed women and women preparing for employment - students - can also receive support. Thus, working women do not have to deal with the loss of funds when entering motherhood. If a woman did not work before maternity, she receives a lump sum of EUR 8.8 per day. This also makes Austrian family policy more appreciative of women who have demonstrated previous activity in the labor market.
However, they all end up financially in the same or similar way as they were before entering the maternity leave.
Another appreciation of financial contributions is Child allowance. The fundamental difference between the two countries in the provision of this benefit is the right to receive them. In the Czech Republic, the total income of the family is decisive, which must not be higher than 2.7 times the subsistence level, while in Austria this benefit is universal, so, income does not play any role. This type of financial contribution plays an important role in the care of children, where the financial contribution is not paid only in the first years, but all the time before the child reaches the age of maturity, which gives families greater financial stability. Child allowance is not very satisfactory in the Czech Republic and the conditions for granting it are so difficult that only a small percentage of families reach them.
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Both family policies are more or less maintaining the gender setting of the roles mother - caregiver, man - breadwinner. Looking at the family policy scheme regarding the care arrangements it seems to be easier for women to stay at home and fulfil the duties of a mother for the first three years, this corresponds with Saxonberg (2006) who states that women are to be expected to leave the labour market for 3 years with every child.
However, this literally an obstacle in their professional career choices where they have to decide whether and when to have children, knowing they will drop out from the labour market for longer time.
Good institutional care could enable better integration of women with young children into the labor market. In Austria, for example, the number of public kindergartens is growing year by year, thus actively responding to the current trend of families. Austria also offers more options for caring for young children in the event that a family does not receive a placement in a state institution, such as a daily mother. This form does not exist in the Czech Republic and in case the family does not get a place in a caring institution, they must choose private institutions, which are often financially unavailable, or provide family care. This gives the Czech Republic more responsibility to the private sector.
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5 Document analysis
Document analysis is a wide range of partial methods and approaches, it can be both qualitative and quantitative. Nevertheless, the aim is always to describe and explain the content and the structure of the text (Gulová 2013). This method can be used to analyze any text document that aims to clarify its meaning, identify its stylistic and syntactic peculiarities, or determine its structure. Content analysis is a process of text analysis, not a theory; it is therefore, a procedure how to systematically and reliably analyze documents (Disman 2000). For my type of research with regard to the type of research questions, the qualitative method seems to be a more suitable research method than the quantitative method. Through this analysis, various elements and phenomena of selected documents will be identified and formulated. As Reichel (2006) states, the content analysis may focus on the intentions of the document, the consequences of its existence, or its linguistic or non-verbal aspect.