Paroubek, Sobotka, Hamáček ... Top politicians are more divorcing in Sweden<

After thirteen years, the marriage of Deputy Prime Minister Jan Hamáček ends. He thus became the third leader of social democracy after Jiří Paroubek and Bohuslav Sobotek, whose marriage fell apart during the leadership of the CSSD. However, the Social Democrats are not the only ones whose marriage is affected by politics like a plague. Just remember Petr Nečas, Mirek Topolánek or Martin Bursík. And this is not just a local problem in the Czech Republic. In Sweden, they have even found that women have a bigger problem than men with maintaining marriage in senior positions.

Divorces of people in top positions were dealt with at the University of Stockholm. The study's conclusions are clear: When a woman gets into high politics or a high executive position, a relationship is far more likely than her male counterparts. Professor Johann Rickne, co-author of a study published in the American Economic Journal, points to an interesting point: Although there is a general belief in Sweden that careers and families can be organically linked, practice shows the exact opposite.

The research compared the lives of more than a hundred top managers of both sexes and confirmed that married women who became CEOs divorced up to twice as often as men within three years. In the public sector, mayors have also doubled their chances of divorce since electing.

The Czechia is faithful

The situation on the Czech political scene is somewhat different. Most female politicians are either not divorced or have divorced before the start of their political career. But it is not that they are more resilient than Swedish women, only that there are not so many of them in top politics. Sweden is even ahead of the world in terms of women in politics, their parliament is made up of 43% women and there is even a majority in government, namely 12 out of 23 ministers.

But why are Swedes getting so divorced? Research has suggested that when a woman climbs the career ladder very quickly or very high, she expects a similar approach from her husband. If he can't do it, then, man, you're going ... But when a man comes to power, he finds it acceptable for his wife to stay home with her children or choose an undemanding career. Czech politicians are perhaps more lenient and tolerate a little more of their men than emancipated northern women.

Infidelity and infidelity again

And for what reasons are Czech politicians divorcing? Every failed marriage is accompanied by a slightly different story. During his political career, Jiří Paroubek managed to exchange his first wife for a younger one, with whom he also divorced years later. Bohuslav Sobotka's marriage ended in 2018, shortly after he ended up as prime minister. After years of neglecting his family, he had time to catch up, but it was obviously too late.

Politics also marred the former ODS leader Mirek Topolánek, who divorced and married Deputy Speaker Lucia Talmanová. And there is probably no need to mention Petr Nečas' illegitimate relationship with the head of the cabinet, Jana Nagyová, whom he married as a woman after the divorce.

Relationship politics do not work

The Czech scene does not lag behind the world in terms of political love affairs; in England, the marriage of politicians is going through similar problems. For example, current British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Marina Wheeler divorced after 25 years, a year before he became prime minister. According to The Sun, infidelity was the cause. Traveling, long working hours, media attention, nights away from home - career politics is simply not compatible with a happy family life. Working under great stress and lack of personal life can cause spouses to alienate themselves or succumb to infidelity.

"It's no surprise that people are looking for pleasure with colleagues in similar positions, with people they see at work every day," said Marilyn Stowe, a divorce lawyer who represented many British politicians. People who enter politics may also have some character traits changing. And you can wave with confidence in a relationship. "It's not the most moral profession, is it? This is a job where the truth is not very important, "adds Stowe. According to historian Henry Adamec, the powerful people that politicians often are are also losing empathy.

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photo: Shutterstock, source: BBC