The aim of this research is to examine status and success of women in politics in gender-unequal countries of the EU. The study is conducted through the example of two culturally close countries from post-communist Central Europe – Slovakia and Czechia – which have proportional electoral systems with a different number of constituencies. By focusing on Slovak and Czech parliamentary elections in the last 30 years, the project examines political parties' attitudes towards women candidates, the support that women in politics get from the voters, and the impact that preferential votes in combination with different institutional settings can have on women politicians‘ success (or lack thereof) in parliamantary elections.