Abstract
The author analyzes the first round of the EU initiative EQUAL (2001-2004). He shows that the agency responsible for the implementation of the initiative lacked any previous knowledge of gender issues.
The implementation process was flawed from the beginning and the initiative de facto served to reproduce existing gender inequalities in the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, the same approach characterizes preparations for the second round of the initiative EQUAL as well as preparations for the use of the EU structural funds.
The paper presents an analysis of some of the key documents that structure the use of the EU funds to show that they are not gender mainstreamed by any means. There is no sign that the EU would be alarmed or even interested in the fact that gender aspect of equality is ignored by the Czech bureaucrats.
As the author argues, the EU seems to betray its own principles and actively support the existing gender regime in the Czech Republic.