Czech Women In Political Life

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31773, 2 September 1968, Page 2

Czech Women In Political Life

This year is a significant year in more ways than one for the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It is the fiftieth anniversary of its origin, and the year of elections to the national committees, the National Assembly and the Slovak National Council.

That the elections will still go on as planned has been in doubt since Warsaw Pact troops moved into Czechoslovakia almost two weeks ago. But if they do, the Czechoslovak Women’s Union will, this year, put up its own candidates to all the levels of the national committees. There are women in all the national committees in Czechoslovakia, from the smallest village to the capital of the country. There are actually more than 45,600, which is almost 20 per cent of the total number of deputies in the national committees.

Writing in the last issue of the quarterly magazine, “Czechoslovak Woman,” Man keto Vojtovicova said 20 per cent of the National Assembly and 19 per cent of the Slovak National Council were women. One of the women in Prague recommended as a candidate this year by the Czechoslovak Women’s Union

is Marie Rulikova, an engineer. She is the vicechairman of the national committee of one of Prague’s large districts, where there are many schools, cultural and medical facilities.

What brought her to this work for the public?

Short Step

“For me, it was not a step into the unknown. I used to be a teacher and, later, headmistress of the economic secondary school. From the education of youth, it is not far to public work You know what teen-agers are like. The boys and girls have many problems, they need advice and so they came to me, even at home. Many of them are today my electors: we meet again and discuss topical questions, at public meetings and in private.” Her election district includes the streets of Vlnohrady, with old burgher houses and modern flats and a lot of shops. “Life here is good. But here in the centre of town there is not enough space for the children of the local schools to play. When we tried to solve this problem we had the idea of making playgrounds inside the blocks of flats, where there are little used yards and squares. “One of my electors, a pensionered architect, offered to draw a plan for us and then the citizens themselves started

the work. Now the children have, behind those apartment houses, not only playgrounds, but also flower beds and room for all kinds of work.

Economic Problems

“When the children are at school, adults come here to meet each other or just take a rest,” Mrs Rulikova said. Not only does Mrs Rulikova look after her election district. As a member of the council of the national committee, she deals with the problems of the whole municipality and, because she studied economy, she mainly looks after the economic matters and the construction of new buildings and facilities which should be included in the plan and budget. “Meetings with people in the election campaign are a good opportunity to confront the plans of the national committee with the opinions of the citizens. As far as more perspective plans are concerned, we submit to the citizens a number of alternatives. “We have certain means at our disposal which we can use at our own discretion. And so we ask: Should we first modernise the school or the health centre? Which is most urgent? These questions are usually heatedly discussed and the national committee will use the opinions of the people and proceed according to the wish of the majority,” she said.