5 women rewriting the rules of leadership in Czechia

A woman can be qualified, respected, and ready for more, yet still wonder whether she is asking for too much. And while many women in Czechia have made real progress in education, earnings, and public life, when it comes to the roles where the biggest decisions are made, the gap is still hard to ignore.

The European Institute for Gender Equality ranked Czechia 25th out of 27 EU countries in its 2025 Gender Equality Index, with especially weak results in work and positions of power. The findings also point to something less visible: traditional ideas about caregiving, income, and whose career should come first are still shaping how women see themselves and how others see them.

The numbers show the size of the problem, but they don't show what it feels like to rise above it. So we asked women in leadership roles across Czechia one question: What challenge unique to women leaders have you learned to navigate, and how did you overcome it? Their answers are candid, practical, and familiar, touching on self-doubt, bias, boundaries, authority, and the pressure to lead in ways that do not always feel natural.

For international professionals building careers far from where they started, a bigger role can sound exciting until it becomes a real possibility. Then the questions begin: ‘Am I ready?’ ‘Is this too much?’ ‘Would someone else be more obvious for the job?’ 

ADP’s Caroline Rambaud, VP Global Payroll Operations, EMEA, can relate. “When the General Manager role in Prague opened, my first instinct was, ‘This is too ambitious for me,” she states. “Looking back, it wasn’t about capability, but about how I perceived my own readiness.”

Rambaud found that support from other people, like mentors, colleagues, and family, made a positive impact as well, allowing her to reframe leadership as something built through judgment, curiosity, and support, rather than certainty from the outset.

“What helped me overcome this was listening to others who saw my potential more clearly than I did," she elaborates. "I also realized that leadership isn’t about having all the answers; it’s about learning, asking questions, and building strong support around you.”

She has since learned to navigate this challenge by stepping into opportunities before feeling fully ready and recognizing them before self-doubt has finished arguing against them. 

In multilingual, international workplaces, style is often part of how people are judged. A direct comment can be read as clarity or sharpness, confidence can be seen as authority or overreach, and ambition can be encouraged in one person and softened in another.

Laura Dallmann, Reckitt’s General Manager for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, points to a challenge that is difficult to identify precisely because it can look like ordinary judgment. 

“Leadership potential is not always assessed as objectively as we would like to believe,” she explains. “Throughout my career, and particularly in talent reviews, I have observed how the same behaviors can be interpreted differently depending on who demonstrates them.”

She advises moving the conversation away from impressions and toward evidence, especially where it matters most: in the rooms where careers are shaped. 

“As leaders, we have a responsibility to assess people based on their capabilities, performance, potential, and impact,” she elaborates, “Not on preconceived notions of how leadership should look.”

Dallmann emphasizes that leaders should always “challenge assumptions and focus on evidence rather than perception” and, when assessing others, they should ask whether a judgment is grounded in what someone has done or in an inherited idea of how leadership should appear. 

“Many women leaders face the pressure to adapt to a leadership style that was not necessarily designed with them in mind,” explains Agnieszka Bobrukiewicz, a member of the ORLEN Unipetrol Group’s Board of Directors responsible for retail in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria, and Executive Director for the non-fuel segment at the ORLEN Group. “In male-dominated industries, women are often observed more closely, judged faster, and held to different expectations.”

Earlier in her career, Bobrukiewicz tried to work within that existing model. Over time, she found that the effort to become someone else was much more limiting.

“I realized that constantly trying to be someone else is exhausting and ultimately limits your impact,” she shares.

Her answer is not authenticity as a slogan, but authenticity that is supported by performance. Delivering results, building trust, remaining anchored in clear values, and allowing confidence to grow through action can produce a form of leadership that is credible because it is not borrowed.

In industries where authority has long been associated with toughness, speed, and emotional restraint, women can feel pressure to edit themselves before they have even begun to lead. Bobrukiewicz’s experience suggests that the stronger path is to define authority on your own terms, then give others a reason to trust it. 

“As a woman, I often felt an expectation to be primarily accommodating and empathetic,” states Veronika Souralová, Director of Czech Photo. “I later learned that a good leader must also be decisive and willing to say no when necessary.”

This tension is familiar to many international professionals, but particularly women. According to the Solvo Institute’s Femina Index, more than a third of Czech men and nearly a quarter of Czech women believe women should automatically fulfill traditional gender roles, showing how expectations around accommodation and authority can remain deeply ingrained.

Souralová began her career as a photographer and writer. “I viewed the world primarily through creativity, intuition, and emotion,” she adds. When she acquired Czech Photo and took over the organization 12 years ago, she found herself in the role of director and entrepreneur. 

“I had to learn to shift from emotion to responsibility,” she explains, adding that the transition brought a familiar tension. Empathy remained central to who she was, but leadership also required firmness. She had to become comfortable with decisions, limits, and the occasional ‘no.’

A creative career can train someone to observe, feel, and respond, while leadership requires another layer: negotiation, structure, responsibility, and the willingness to make decisions that not everyone will like. Strong leadership can be firm enough to provide direction and human enough to bring people along.

Anyone who has worked across cultures knows how easily tone can be misread. “One challenge I’ve observed for women leaders is not external resistance, but the tendency to internalize pressure and hesitate to clearly express boundaries or expectations,” explains Lenka Tichá.

According to the Site Director for the Czech Republic and Slovakia at Concentrix, boundaries are often mistaken for conflict, when they can instead mark the beginning of clearer collaboration. In a workplace shaped by different habits, languages, and expectations, direct communication can prevent a difficult dynamic from becoming the norm. 

She cites an example from earlier in her career, involving a particularly difficult conversation with her manager “where the feedback was delivered in a very direct and negative tone. Instead of stepping back, I chose to address it openly and set clear expectations around respect and communication.” 

The conversation shifted the workplace dynamic from a directive, ‘boss-style’ approach to a partnership built on mutual respect and accountability. 

“In my career, I have mostly worked with male leaders and did not face direct barriers because of my gender,” Tichá adds. “What made a difference was being intentional about growth, seeking perspective, and learning how to navigate leadership situations with

These experiences show that leadership is shaped as much by what people unlearn as by what they achieve. Progress begins when you trust your judgment, set clearer boundaries, and lead without shrinking themselves to fit an outdated model.