Gender Equality National Report Hungary - European-microfinance ...

men.” 35 The long-term full employment period of the socialist era (which included
unemployment behind the gates) still has its socialising effects on women living off wages
and salaries: a life spent at a single workplace, state-provided services helping with
homework (is at a low standard), acknowledgement of male-centred workplaces, sometimes
even authoritarian socialisation of the families all worked against the adoption and realisation
of the gender-conscious female role model.
The double pressure on women originating from the known social and demographic reasons
is not easing, but instead becoming stronger. The ageing society puts an increasing burden
on both families (including women) and the social security systems. The decrease in the
share of elderly people and hence the financing of the pension system can only be provided
by increasing the number of births. This means that women should have more children and
also spend more time making money. This is impossible without a more righteous sharing of
housework between the genders.
The most important reason for the deprivation of women can be found among the deeply
preserved traditions and the social prejudice against the idea of equal opportunities. So the
most important tool to improve the conditions is to make the general opinion sensitive
enough to suppress prejudice and to improve social acceptance of the idea of equal
opportunities.
Based on the domestic surveys of the last fifteen years, most of the Hungarian population
has a conservative point of view regarding the topic of gender equality. Even according to
international comparisons, the Hungarian families are the most characterised by the
traditional division of labour, the overburdened situation of women and acceptance of these
facts by the people affected by them.
3.6. Gender equality regarding enterprise supporting institutes
3.6.1 Actions promoting equality in enterprise development programs
In recent years, especially after Hungary joined the EU (2004), the number and financial
background of programs and measures enhancing equal opportunities for women in
enterprise development significantly increased. Prior to that the programs initiated and
financed by the EU PHARE program had strived to address and tackle the problem.
PHARE supported the launch of the Regina Model Program (RMP), a complex theoretical
reintegration model in country development and the labour market, which aims to offer
solutions to problems and needs arising in women’s reality. The Model’s philosophy is that a
woman has the right to make her own decision about having a child and that women should
have equal opportunities in the labour market whether they decide to have a child or not.
After 2004, within the frame of the 1st National Development Plan supported by the EU,
especially and primarily the 2nd component of HEFOP’s (Human Resources Development
Operative Program), there was a call for application No. 1.3.1 regarding women on the
labour market focused on female entrepreneurs, also emphasizing the importance of training
and networking. As women’s businesses in Hungary are usually small enterprises, they are
vulnerable. The majority are micro-enterprises, which employ fewer than 10 people, if any.
A great number of them are self-employed.
One way for some of the employees to escape unemployment after the political change was
to start a new business using their own and their family’s capital, expertise and work at their
35 Acknowledgement and Exercise of Equal Opportunities in Hungary (especially considering Gender
Equality) – webpage of SEED Foundation for Small Enterprise Development
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