By Suranjana Gupta. What began in 1992 as a small group of mothers trying to counter their isolation as parents and find ways to collectively care for their children outside their homes, is today a sophisticated women’s civil society movement. These women are demonstrating how childcare and motherhood, traditionally considered to be in the private domain, can be brought into the public sphere to create public recognition of women’s contribution to the social fabric of society. In the last fifteen years, the Czech mothers have gone from one Mother Centre in Prague to organizing a nation-wide network of over 250 Mother Centres that meet the practical needs of families with young children, while collectively working on a broader set of values that demonstrate why and how Czech society must become ‘family friendly’. This vision positions the Network of Mother Centres in the Czech Republic in an advisory role to the national Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, as well as to the European Union, in debates on equal opportunity programs and on inclusive, “family friendly” social policy. The Czech Mother Centres Network is also recognized by cooperative networks of grassroots women’s groups as an innovative women’s empowerment organization, from whom other grassroots groups with similar objectives have much to learn.