10 of the most badass Czech women in history

This is an update of an article from 2018.

Saint Agnes of Bohemia 1211–1282

A princess of Bohemia who eschewed an arranged marriage to found the hospital of St. Francis, St. Agnes was canonized 700 years later by Pope John Paul II. Artist Judy Chicago’s 1974 installation piece The Dinner Party, features Agnes; her name appears on The Heritage Floor as one of 999 women who has made an impact on Western civilization. She was also the face of the rosy-pink 50-CZK banknote before it was removed from circulation in 2017.

Ema Destinnová 18781–930

Alice Garrigue Masaryková 1879–1966

A teacher, sociologist, and politician credited with founding the Czechoslovak Red Cross, Masaryk has long been considered the original Czech feminist. In 1919 she was one of the first women elected as a member of the parliament of the Czechoslovakian Republic headed by her father Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. Forced into exile in the 1930s, she spoke regularly on Radio Free Europe from the States, encouraging her fellow Czechoslovaks to remain steadfast in their struggle for democracy.

Milena Jesenská 1896–1944

Eliška Junková 1900–1994

Milada Horáková 1901–1950

Milada Horáková was a Czech lawyer, politician, and campaigner for the equal status of women. She joined the Czech resistance to the German occupation and survived a Nazi prison, only to be imprisoned once again and later executed by the communist regime on fabricated charges of conspiracy and treason. Prior to her hanging at Prague’s Pankrác Prison she wrote numerous letters that remain important tracts on independent thought and democracy. In the 1990s she posthumously received the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. In 2017, a film about her life, Milada, opened worldwide.

Toyen 1902–1980

Challenging gender constructs was the life’s work of the artist said to have described herself as the male painter Toyen but known to her avante garde circle as the female person Marie Čermínová. A founding member of the Czech surrealist movement, she frequently dressed like a man, expressing hedonistic motifs and the taboo of lesbian desire in a body of work that is considered an important contribution to feminist art and criticism.

Věra Chytilová  1929–2014

Czech author Josef Škvorecký describes this pioneer of Czech cinema: “In true feminist tradition Vera combined intensive intellectual effort with a feminine feeling for beauty and form.” Her masterpiece Daisies (Sedmikrásky), seen as a bold critique of the male attitude towards sex, was controversial for, of all things, its depiction of food waste and led to numerous clashes with the communist party.

Věra Čáslavská 1942–2016

Čáslavská is the most decorated Czech gymnast in history and one of only two female gymnasts to win the all-around gold medal at two consecutive Olympics. At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, she looked down in protest while the Soviet national anthem was played during the medal ceremonies; she was forced into retirement and for many years denied the right to travel, work, or attend sporting events. Čáslavská was eventually named President of the Czech Olympic committee.

Madeleine Albright b. 1937

Born in Prague as Marie Jana Körbelová, her diplomat father fled to London with his family before the Second World War, returning to Czechoslovakia but fleeing once again after the communist coup. In America Albright embarked on a career in politics and was later appointed U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations by President Bill Clinton. In 1997 she became the first woman to hold the position of Secretary of State of the United States; in 2012 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Albright remains a polarizing figure for her role in the Bosnian war; in 2012 she authored a best-selling memoir, Prague Winter.  Her 2018 book Fascism: A Warning addresses the rising of authoritarianism and evidence of its legacy today.