Abstract
The chapter was published in the shadow report on gender equality (Czech Women's Lobby). The chapter was originally dedicated to women belonging to ethnic or national minorities with Czech citizenship.
This category, however, proved to be difficult to grasp. If women belonging to disparate backgrounds do have gender specific issues, these remain unarticulated and not voiced on any significant forum.
The chapter is thus devoted entirely to Romani women, who by far do not constitute a homogeneous group and it is impossible to isolate Romani women's problems arising from social exclusion from those that the Romani minority as a whole faces. The first part of the chapter summarizes the results of Czech and international researches mapping the employment status of Romani women.
Afterward, the chapter focuses on the low participation of Romani women on the Czech political scene and ends with the issue of Romani women's sterilizations. In the concluding section the text reminds that a law establishing the requirements and conditions for a state compensation progam for the victims of unlawfully conducted sterilizations is yet to be passed.