By the end of the 18th century, the intellectual class (lower- and mid-level aristocracy and urban citizenry) began to take a stand supporting the right of women to have equal access to educationand also began to dwell on current issues, such as equal rights and women’s participation in public life. The Ratio Educationis (in 1777) was the first to mention the schooling of women, which at the time was not nearly at the same level compared to men’s education. Female education soon became a public issue which sparked off fierce debates. The Education Decree of 1845 made it mandatory for both boys and girls to complete the first two grades in elementary school, while Act XXXVIII/1868 made education compulsory between ages 6 to 12 (6 grades to be completed in elementary school), followed by mandatory upper grade public schooling and the so-called civic school, in which the years of mandatory education was lower for girls.
The National Women’s Education Association led by Hermin Beniczky Mrs Pál Veres demanded special grammar schools for girls and mandatory education for girls up to age 18. Several politicians embraced this idea (e.g., Minister of Culture Ágoston Trefort) making it possible for girls (young ladies) to study in public schools, grammar schools and other special educational institutions, the latter of which amounted to more of a „housekeeper training” education than any type of a serious learning institution that would offer women special skills or in-depth knowledge. Girls were permitted to take secondary school leaving examination only from 1883 on. Furthermore, at the end of the 19th century there were still no grammar schools for girls, they began to surface only from the end of the 1890s (promoted by Vilma Hugonnai among others). The first official secondary school leaving examination for women was administered in June 1900. Girls’ grammar schools as such were regulated by Act 1926/XXIV, and girls’ public schools were regulated by Act 1927/XII (Kúnó Klebelsberg was the minister in charge of education at the time). From the middle of the 19th century (and actually, by individual initiatives even sooner), women’s enrolment in higher education was on the agenda, particularly as economic and societal circumstances had changed, not to mention the evident broadening of educational opportunities for young ladies. In 1895, for the first time, Minister of Culture Gyula Wlassics opened the doors of certain higher educational institutions to women who wished to continue studies. His intention was to open all higher educational institutions to female students; however, Emperor Franz Joseph did not approve such an ambitious goal.
Today, in Hungary, the completed school years of women stand at a somewhat higher level than those of men. A larger percentage of women has completed secondary school (52.6 percent) and/or higher education (52.6 percent) studies compared to men of similar age. Girls in grammar schools are significantly overrepresented, while in vocational schools they are underrepresented. This means that young ladies acquire more general knowledge and less professional trade skills at this level. Therefore, education in Hungary is currently still segregated by gender, which can be detected mainly in trade schools and in higher educational institutions. Statistics show that men possess numerical superiority in certain fields, including natural sciences, information sciences, mechanical sciences, agriculture and/or animal sciences.
Regarding their legal situation, women had more restricted opportunities than man throughout Hungary’s history. They officially became of adult age only when they got married (prior to age 14 they were allowed to get married only by their father’s consent) and had to bear their husband’s surnames. The most significant problem, however, was that even though they were allowed to possess certain rights, they could not practice those rights freely, the best example being a woman’s right to dispose of her own assets: a woman was allowed to possess separate assets while being married, however, typically, her husband had a usufruct over such assets. There were discrepancies in inheritance matters as well: only wives of middle class citizens, farmers and commercial traders were able to inherit half of their husbands’ assets after their death, while wives of upper class meritocracy had no such entitlement.
As far as political rights are concerned, the campaign to promote women’s suffrage surfaced during as early as in the years 1840-60, when several counties demanded such rights, however, this movement failed to receive majority support at the time. Both Act 1848/V and Act 1874/XXXIII left women out of the voting circle, as did Act 1973/XIV. In 1918 the 1st People’s Tribunal gave women voting rights, albeit only to a limited extent. On 2 April 1919, during the Hungarian Soviet Republic, all women over 18 years of age received suffrage equal to those of men, which rights were later restricted by the Act 1925/XXVI and Act 1938/XIX. Hungarian women were able to receive full and equal secret voting rights only in 1945.
It is important to mention, however, that „women” as citizens do not belong to a homogenous and unified group of society in terms of their interests, since their societal role and income discrepancies are significantly altered after child birth, particularly when they are expected to stay their ground in the face of dual burdens (both family and workplace responsibilities).
Women’s organizational activities became notably intensive at the beginning of the 20th century. The so-called women’s movement became particularly active in 3 main directions:
- Christian-catholic: Social Missionary Association (Edit Farkas);
- Feminists: striving for voting rights and equality before the law (suffragettes) and Feminist’s Association (Rózsa Schwimmer);
- Social Democratic movement: Hungarian Social Democratic Party (Mariska Gárdos).
The age of socialism did not favour women’s organizational activities. For one reason, the regime wanted to resolve women’s right issues by issuing directives ordained from above, thereby bringing women’s equal rights issues to a resting point, and on the other hand, wanted to dampen the energy of grassroots movements, which were difficult to control. By administering solutions to settle the „women’s movement” issues from above, the very same movement lost its grassroots character, which gave it impetus and momentum to begin with. Correspondingly, the socialist state kept Hungarian women’s rights activists and the general female population uninformed regarding „western” women’s rights movements and the international achievements pertaining to emancipation as such.
Because women’s equal opportunity rights can be examined and legislated from many different aspects, the current state of legal regulatory background (in Hungary) is also extremely diversified. International agreements and other international legal acts protect women from, among others, slavery, sexual exploitation, mistreatment resulting from armed conflicts, discrimination in the work force etc., while assuring them political rights, equal pay, and equal access to legal ramifications. These legislations were also transposed into Hungary’s own legal system assisted by the fact that Hungary is a member of the United Nations, the European Union and the European Council.
Article XV of Hungary’s Fundamental Law stipulates, among others, that:
(2) Hungary shall guarantee the fundamental rights to everyone without any discrimination, in particular on grounds of race, colour, sex, disability, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or any other status.
(3) Women and men shall have equal rights.
(4) Hungary shall facilitate the realisation of equal opportunity with special measures.
(5) Hungary shall take special measures to protect children, women, the elderly and persons living with disabilities.
Regarding women’s political rights, the United Nations accepted a Convention in New York on 31 March 31 1953. Hungary’s legal adoption of the same was completed in New York in front of the UN Secretary General on 20 January 1955 and this law was enacted and promulgated in Hungary by Act 15/1955. With this Convention, the state parties wished to implement equal rights between men and women as provided for in the Charter of the United Nations and in accordance with pertaining clauses of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whereas they wished to secure equal rights to men and women in the practicing and use of political rights as well. The Agreement confirms that women possess voting rights equal to those of men without any discrimination; can be elected to all domestic offices that were established by public voting; and, enjoy equal rights in employment or holding public offices, while performing their public duties.
In 1979, the UN Assembly adopted the CEDAW Convention (Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, New York, 18 December 1979). Hungary ratified this Convention by Law Decree 10/1982. Ratification of this Agreement meant a total commitment by the government to secure full human rights to women and female children, as well as dismantling of all disadvantages and securing just conditions between men and women. The Convention gives a clear definition on the discrimination between men and women and establishes a schedule to achieve full equality between men and women. In accordance with the Convention’s requirements, every your years, Hungary submits a report to the Committee monitoring the implementation of CEDAW. The last report was submitted by the Hungarian Government at the beginning of 2011. Hungary’s commitment to international norms is also reflected by its ratification of the Optional Protocol attached to the CEDAW (by Act LX of 2001). The Optional Protocol established the institution of individual complaint in connection with infringements of rights granted under the CEDAW. By this, individuals, group of individuals, or anyone acting on their behalf, under the jurisdiction of any one of the state parties, may submit a complaint to the Committee for infringement of any right provided under the Convention. Since the coming into force of the Act, two such complaints have been submitted to the Committee from the territory of Hungary and the complaints have been resolved in both cases due to the constructive cooperative between Hungary and the Committee.
The documents known as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action were both initiated at the Fourth World Conference on Women organized by the United Nations in 1995. It was at this event that they conceptualized the strong need to speed up the improvement of women’s general situation in society, and also reiterated the importance of equality between women and men. The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action called on participating governments, international organizations and civil society to take strategic steps in all of the 12 predefined areas of priority. These areas are the following: women and poverty, education and training of women, women and health, violence against women, women and armed conflict, women and the economy, women in power and women in decision-making, human rights of women, women and the environment, the girl-child, women and the media, and the institutional mechanism for the advancement of women. United Nations member states are required to report in every five years on any progress made with respect to implementation of the Platform for Action.
Women in Hungary are underrepresented in political life. Any interest group needs to attain a critical mass of 30 percent (women’s share) to assert influence in the shaping of politics. However, currently figures fall far behind this critical ratio in Hungary. Women’s political activity both on the passive and the active side of politics remain below the percentage represented by men. In 1998, voter turnout among men and women was almost at the same level (67.9 and 67.4 percent, respectively), however, in 2002, the discrepancy increased to 3 percent in favour of men. The underlying reason for this change may not have only been the decreased interest of women towards politics, but also a fundamental shift in the political atmosphere per se. At the top level of political echelon women’s ratio is negligible but it stagnates even in the case of MPs. Since 1990, the ratio of female MPs in Hungary has not showed substantial improvement. Hungary has dropped from the 43rd place in 1995 to 86th place in 1998, while slipped even further to 103rd place in 2002, ending up at its current 123rd-127th place. This trend persists even if we compare Hungary to the region’s other countries and/or member states of the European Union. Women’s political role is meager in all areas of decision-making – from local governments to the hierarchy of ministries. In 2010 the number and ratio of women decreased compared to the last election: this time only 35 women got into Parliament. The most women were enlisted to receive mandates by FIDESZ-KDNP, while LMP and MSZP retained a similar number. Depending on the number of total representatives in each party, the ratio of women varies, it is the highest in the LMP, and lowest in the ranks of JOBBIK.
With respect to the elimination of violence against women, Hungary has taken active steps during the past few years, both in terms of modifying relevant legislation and in creating and maintaining an institutional framework of victim support. As a part of this process, several forms of restraining orders were introduced: since 2008, the criminal code considers harassment a punishable crime and anticipated changes to the criminal code will also modify the definition of rape, corresponding to international expectations. The temporary restraining order as such was approved by the legislation and the institution of preventive restraining order also received legislative backing. Parliamentary Decision 45/2003 (16 April) on a national strategy to help prevent domestic violence and promote efficient elimination of the same and Parliamentary Decision 115/2003 (28 October) on the national strategy for societal crime prevention determine the necessary steps to be taken by the Government in this regard. In view of the above, Hungary has created a state-subsidized institutional system, which comprises the following elements:
- a Regional Crisis Management Network, which operates fourteen regional centres nationwide;
- a National Crisis Management and Information Hotline, which can be dialled at no charge for 24 hours from all corners of the country;
- a Secret Shelter House, which is a national institution for admitting victims of the most severe types of abuse;
- a Half-way release system, which – as a result of joint cooperation between the Ministry, local governments and crisis centres operated by civil organizations – provides municipal accommodations, where victims of abuse can live for a period of five years, while professionals guide the family back at home.
As opposed to previous major restrictions, from the end of the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, women were able to perform in any job assignments (except for a few religious areas, the legal field, and jobs assigned in an official capacity). Prior to that, they were only allowed to take on jobs that were similar to general housework at home and/or take on volume-driven jobs that required unskilled work (mostly manual labour). The employment of women in mass numbers in a traditional sense began with industrialization and the opening of factories. Women were particularly likely to be employed in textile, chemical, food producing and printing plants, initially under inhumane and exploitative conditions (excessively long work hours, night work, limited free time, disregard for their physical or bodily attributes, near-starvation wages etc.). These conditions were gradually improved by so-called „measures applied for the protection of women”, which were aimed to preserve women’s health and human dignity and to protect their unborn fetuses as well. Such measures included the Act of 1872 and 1884 on industrial labour, the Act 1876 on household maids and Act XIX of 1907 on the promotion and regulation of health and accident insurance matters.
In addition to factory work and manual labour, a large share of the labour market was opened to women by widening educational opportunities for women, raising quality of the same (i.e. education), followed by a full opening of educational institutions to women (due to massive war-time deaths of men). They were increasingly allowed to work in the services sector (e.g. postal services, wire services), in commerce, governmental offices, they could become medical doctors, and later scientists, researchers and engineers as well. Today, women who are also wage-earners are among the top five nations in Europe (following Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia and Poland) in terms of the highest number of daily working hours (wage-earning jobs plus household work combined).
In order to relieve the dual burden imposed on Hungarian women nowadays, a complete change of perspective is needed at the societal and family level.
The personal and professional advancement opportunities for women are curtailed by the traditional belief that both household work and childcare are primarily a woman’s responsibility in the household. The complete emotional unfolding of men and their more positive approach to life, on the other hand, are also impeded by the notion that men should be the primary breadwinners in the family, while considering their role in household work and raising their children as secondary in importance. The birth of the first child can be a cornerstone event in the life of couples, particularly if the mother stays home with the child, as this transformation is likely to carve out their customary roles in the family in the long run. There is a perception that the growing number of children in the family renders women unreliable in the work force, while men are considered a more reliable resource by employers, since it is primarily a woman’s responsibility to raise a child, hence they are relegated to a „secondary” position in the job market. Often, due to lack of appropriate alternatives and assistance, women are compelled to accept these stereotypes.
In addition to childcare and household chores, the caretaking responsibilities of the sick and the elderly in the family are generally also imposed on women. In the service profession of sick people care and elderly care, those hired to do the job are nearly exclusively women.
The negligent intense overburdening of women has not weighed the difficulties of matching family and work requirements: part-time work has not been implemented in society (due to low wages and administrative reasons) and there was no political will to resolve and/or improve childcare and elderly care services. From 2010 on, however, family management as a public policy line item has been named a priority issue and received state funds to improve the situation.
As far as female wages are concerned, they consistently remained below the level that men received. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, women labourers worked for weekly, monthly, or occasionally daily wages. They earned less not only because of their female gender status, but also because they were not considered primary „breadwinners” in the family. It was thought for a long time that women’s pay was only complementary to men’s pay and its level was set accordingly. Men’s weekly wages were between 20 and 40 crowns at the time, while women’s were somewhere between 6 and 14 crowns.
The socialist regime guided women in and out of the labour market according to momentary political interests: in (when they needed cheap labour in massive numbers) and out (when they wanted to dissolve the illusion that there was no unemployment – since at that point they kept men at work by mandatory means, while sending women home to care for their children by using state subsidies).
The slow spreading of flexible forms of employment with the purpose of harmonizing commitments at home and at the workplace, as well as difficulties of finding appropriate childcare facilities, particularly the lack of nurseries and family day-care opportunities for toddlers between ages 0 to 3, amounts to a severe hurdle when it comes to finding employment for women with small children, which essentially blocks the return of women on maternity leave to the workplace. For this reason, there have been several measures to develop nurseries and alternative day-care facilities, particularly since 2010. The establishment of family day-care centres have become simplified, the government supports the creation of family day-care facilities at business headquarters and universities by calling for tenders, and significant EU funds have also been allocated to increase the capacity of nurseries.
With the number of children increasing, there has been a corresponding decrease in the number of women able to take on paid employment positions. (EU statistics show that in 2006 the average ratio of employed women with three or more children in the 27 member states is 53 percent, while in Hungary this figure is only 39.1 percent, hence Hungary is in the back of the pack with only Malta and Belgium exhibiting less favourable ratios.) At the same time, with the age of children increasing, there is a significant increase in the number of employed women as well (mostly in full time employment). Full time employment is difficult to manage while raising several children. In the European Union, every third woman and more than 8 percent of men work in part-time employment positions. Part-time employment is somewhat deceiving though: in its voluntary form it can ease childcare and elderly care responsibilities, but in an emergency situation it can exhibit an adverse reaction: lower pay and the frequent exclusion of training and advancement opportunities.
The government has promoted part-time work by decreasing social security contributions for this type of work, by deploying START work programs and by resorting to the new family protection law it can also promote part-time work in the business sector by making the availability of part-time mandatory, when the subject parent requests such an option until her child is 3 years of age.
Utilization of energies invested by women in education is a fundamental interest of both the nation and women and men alike. Highly trained women are confronted by the difficulty of using up too many years while continuing their education and starting their careers also take up a lot of energy, hence their reproductive years decrease significantly, while because of their potential maternity roles they also face discrimination at the onset of their career positions. Highly trained women, on the one hand, want both good jobs and a family at the same time – yet, in order of importance, first they seek some type of work and existential security, and only thereafter the start of a family. Women with lower qualifications have lasting difficulties finding employment and/or face the risk of ever returning to the workplace, which makes maternity decisions rather difficult. Meanwhile, occupational segregation can be detected in the labour market and it hinders equal opportunity between men and women. Income levels vary to a significant degree as well: professions that are typically dominated by women draw much smaller earning opportunities. Vertical segregation has not decreased either: women continue to be underrepresented in leadership positions and their fall-back at the executive level is equally spectacular. Segregation in the scientific and educational fields show a similar picture, therefore girls who are enrolled in educational institutions are exposed to scant models that display a working solution for harmonizing family life and private life.
A phenomenon which is closely associated with segregation is women’s earnings handicap. (Net average monthly pay for women in 2008 was: 115,119 HUF, while the same for men was 128,615 HUF. The wage gap opens up even further in the case of white collar workers: in case of women it is 134,993 HUF, while for men it is 186,797 HUF). Lower women’s earnings are influenced by maternity and child care issues and longer leave times taken from work due to child birth and taking care of children at home. Return to work is difficult and lost wages are significant, while as mentioned, the wage gap opens even wider in case of higher degreed people and in higher level positions.
Small enterprise owners do not like to employ mothers with small children as they feel it difficult to make up additional costs associated with their employment. It is seldom worthwhile for women on maternity leave to become entrepreneurs.
There are two expectations of women taking on employment: one is that they need to prove themselves in a man-like, inflexible environment and another is that they fulfil the traditional role of women, which includes motherhood, providing care, and serving as a pillar in the family. Women employees, particularly those who take their profession seriously are not portrayed in media as role models, but often as rampant careerists, but mothers with 3 or more children are not elevated to role model positions, either. Discrimination continues against mothers with several children during job interviews, promotions, and after they return to their previous job environment. Leaving from or returning to the workplace in itself can indeed increase the presence and the degree of discrimination applied against them.
The synchronization of taking on a job and caring for a family can cause an impenetrable barrier in the eyes of the majority, not only because there is usually no one to replace them to take care of their children, but also because the caretaking of their elderly parent(s) cannot be resolved in any other way when they forsake these responsibilities for an employment position. Men can also get „sandwiched” in an undesirable position as a result of delayed fatherhood, just like women: next to their employment responsibilities they need to take care of their minor children and old parents at the same time, which can present inextricable difficulties. In many cases, this can lead to one of the parents giving up his or her employment position in order to enable him or her to provide proper care to their loved ones. This unwanted situation carries within itself significant income losses, while making a return to the workplace at a later date more difficult, and ultimately, could lead to reduced retirement income.
Hungarian women devote significantly more time to household chores than men, leaving them with less free time than their partners have and they spend less time in a paid job position. According to commonly accepted standards, only paid job positions are considered „real work” in society. Couples at the beginning of their relationship are more inclined to perform more household chores jointly; however, this enthusiasm changes with time, usually around the birth of the first child.
Men’s time devoted to child care and child rearing is typically done to supplement the female partner who takes care of the household or elderly relatives. Child care duties are more evenly distributed when both parents work in full time, compared to situations where only the man works and the woman is essentially a housewife.
Although Hungarian society is unanimously and verbally described as family-prone at the rhetorical level, the synchronization of paid jobs and family life continues to appear as a woman’s problem, thereby rendering all caretaking work at home less prestigious, since this type of work is „invisible and unpaid”.
The organization of daytime supervision for small children works best at the kindergarten level, although in the metropolitan areas these kindergarten facilities are crowded and during enrolment it is evident that those mothers with smaller infants at home are discriminated against. Regional discrepancies are widespread: 90 percent of functional kindergarten facilities are located in Budapest and in the larger metropolitan areas. In 2010, all in all there were 668 nurseries accommodating 32,516 toddlers. This capacity can satisfy only about 10 percent of the actual need for kindergarten services. The infrastructural development of basic care for children was initiated from European Union funds. Until the end of 2013, approximately 3,500 new spaces can be opened.
Regarding the discrepancies between wages, the underlying causes lack any rationality and are based on improper and ill-entrenched conventions, particularly in case of male and female persons possessing similar degrees, positions, and job assignments.
Nevertheless, in the public sector, at least, the concept of equal wages is realized in accordance with legally required norms.
Wage differences can be explained by the following: based on statistics, women all together become commercially active later and to a lesser extent than men, a smaller portion of them reach top positions in their fields, and they represent a smaller share of active earners in society. Furthermore, they leave the labour market much sooner and inactivity among them is more widespread than in the case of men. Additionally, it is rather constrained as to whether they can move up on the career ladder: among top executives, women are underrepresented („glass ceiling”), and a horizontal occupational segregation can be detected around them („glass wall”). This means that in certain occupational fields there can easily be such assessments ascertained that „this is not for women”. The elimination of these mistaken perceptions is indispensable to economic development, since women need to be an integral part of such development schemes.
The aforementioned facts, in consideration of the statistics that will follow, draw attention to one of the most serious societal problems: between 1990 and 2010, the rate of married women among women at childbearing age dropped from 64 to 41 percent. This decline was even more pronounced among women between 20 and 35 years of age, who have a decisive role in terms of childbearing. The married majority therefore became a minority. All this, coupled with the uncertainty of family law modifications can lead to social and existential insecurity – hence the lack of support due to a high percentage of divorce and separation. Based on the above, women’s economic exposure could rise even further and for this reason, the family backdrop, constituting the most secure „social net” needs to be reinforced – this has also been a key priority in the field of family policy since 2010.
Women’s participation in the job market is generally lower than men’s, which indicates that a significantly larger percentage of women stays away from the labour market than in the case of men – mainly because of the hardship of matching family and workplace obligations. From the age sample of economically inactive women it is evident that women stay away from the job market primarily at a younger age. Women account for about 80 percent of the inactive total sample of unemployed people between 30 and 35 years of age. Women’s late entry into the job market can be unequivocally attributable to child bearing decisions. Currently, since 2010, intensive attempts to develop and increase capacity in child care services (day-care centres) are assisted by invoking funds allocated by the European Union.
Closely connected to job-market issues is the harmonization of workplace commitments to those of family priorities and private life. Presently, Hungarian working women are ranked 4th in Europe among those countries where women perform the most housework next to their regular job (after Slovenia, Estonia and Poland). Many in society still consider housework a woman’s responsibility, while others have recognized that men’s role in taking a share of family commitments is also important. Hungary employs a wide array of material and other incentives to support families and value-added work that can be performed from the home.
