Founded by Františka Plamínková, its members strove for reform of marriage laws and employment restrictions of women, which they believed had been promised by the equality mandate in the new constitution.
[1] Members like Milada Horáková, Marie Svozilová and Hana Vichová devoted speeches and articles to criticize the government's failure to implement laws for equality which was constitutionally guaranteed.
[7] ŽNR drafted a new civil code which called for equality of spouses as well as for their mutual care of dependents and each other.
Each spouse should have the right to work and the responsibility for care of the family with equal decision-making authority, and for domestic maintenance.
[8] Their suggestions were rejected and though the law was revised in 1931, men still maintained authority over children, property and their wives;[9] the only substantive change being that marriage would henceforward be a civil partnership, rather than a religious rite.
[10] With the advent of the Great Depression and austerity measures put in place at that time, ŽNR pressed for relief programs that provided assistance to the unemployed, rather than the mass dismissal of women workers.