Hungary
Legislative and policy framework
The concept of gender mainstreaming and the introduction of gender equality policies followed the process of accession to the European Union (EU) in 2004. In 2003, Hungary transposed the EU acquis communautaire through the adoption of Act CXXV on Equal Treatment and the Promotion of Equality of Opportunities.
There is no targeted law on gender equality in Hungary. Sex is listed as one of several grounds on which negative discrimination is prohibited by Act CXXV of 2003 on Equal Treatment and the Promotion of Equality of Opportunities, which establishes the principle of equal treatment[1].
The Fundamental Law of Hungary entered into force on 1 January 2012 which, under Article XV para (3), establishes that ‘Women and men shall have equal rights’, while para (5) establishes the protection of women through positive actions. Article L para (1) declares that the Hungarian state protects marriage as a ‘union of a man and a woman’ and ‘the family as the basis of survival of the nation’[2].
Gender mainstreaming efforts in Hungary are planned through the National Strategy for the Promotion of Gender Equality – Guidelines and Objectives 2010–2021 (Nők és Férfiak Társadalmi Egyenlőségét Elősegítő Nemzeti Stratégia - Irányok és Célok 2010-2021)[3] and the Action Plan ‘Empowering Women in the Family and Society Action Plan 2021-2030'[4].
The National Strategy for the Promotion of Gender Equality – Guidelines and Objectives 2010–2021 (Nők és Férfiak Társadalmi Egyenlőségét Elősegítő Nemzeti Stratégia - Irányok és Célok 2010-2021) was approved by the Hungarian government in 2010.[5] It aims to achieve its objectives by mainstreaming gender into the planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation phases of political processes. For the first two years (2010–2011), the strategy defined six objectives.
The 2020 Action Plan, titled ‘Empowering Women in the Family and Society Action Plan 2021-2030, prepared for the European Union' (Az Európai Unió számára készített “A nők szerepének erősítése a családban és a társadalomban” akcióterv (2021-2030))[6] identifies three general objectives.
Empowering Women in the Family and Society Action Plan 2021-2030 Objectives
- promoting work-life balance
- increasing women’s participation in areas where they are currently underrepresented
- ensuring equal social and economic protection to men and women
However, the strategy was not implemented and consequently, there have been no progress reports or evaluation of these objectives.
There is no publicly available information on the state of implementation of the strategy or action plan.
Structures
Governmental equality bodies
Responsibility for gender equality at the national level is held by the Minister Responsible for Family Affairs (a Minister without a portfolio) who directly reports to the Prime Minister. The Minister has a broad scope of responsibilities, including family affairs, children’s affairs, youth, and protection of the elderly.[7] Gender issues belong directly to the Women’s Policy Unit, which operates under the Department of Adoption and Women’s Policy (Örökbefogadási és Nőpolitikai Főosztály). The work of the department is directed by a Deputy State Secretary, responsible for Family Policies (Családpolitikáért Felelős Helyettes Államtitkár).
Responsibilities of the Department of Adoption and Women’s Policy include preparing legislative proposals in the areas related to women’s policy and monitoring their implementation. The Department also contributes to the coordination of governmental programs in the fields of women’s (and children’s) healthcare and mental wellbeing; family protection; pro-family policies; and reproductive health. The Department is further responsible for contributing to women’s policy-related tasks identified by the European Union and other international bodies.[8]
The Women’s Rights Thematic Working Group (Nők Jogaiért Felelős Munkacsoport[9]) within the Human Rights Roundtable (Emberi Jogi Kerekasztal) is a consulting body, comprising representatives of 26 NGOs who are permanent members and representatives of nine NGOs who are invited members. The Working Group is headed by the Minister Responsible for Family Affairs and is responsible for discussing issues arising related to women’s rights and making proposals to decision-makers.
Independent equality body
Act CXXV of 2003 on Equal Treatment and the Promotion of Equality of Opportunities ensures compliance with equal treatment principles by state and non-state actors in Hungary. In the Act, the Equal Treatment Authority (Egyenlő Bánásmód Hatóság – EBH) was established and entrusted to deal with complaints related to a list of protected characteristics. The list of protected characteristics includes gender, as well as ethnic origin, race, skin colour, age, mother tongue, disability, state of health, motherhood (pregnancy) or fatherhood, family status, sexual orientation, gender identity, social origin, financial status, religious or ideological beliefs, political or other opinion, part-time or fixed-term employment status, and membership of a representative organisation. The EBH can initiate proceedings against an employer/public institution at the request of an individual.
In January 2021, the responsibilities of the Equal Treatment Authority were taken over by the General Directorate for Equal Treatment, under the Office of the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights[10]. The General Directorate continues acting under the Act CXXV of 2003 on Equal Treatment and the Promotion of Equality of Opportunities.
Parliamentary bodies
There are no representative elected bodies in Hungary nor is there any regular reporting to representative elected bodies on the progress of gender equality efforts. The Office of the Hungarian Parliament produces occasional briefs (i.e. provides fact-sheets) on gender-related topics such as work-life balance (in 2019[11]), the impact of COVID-19 on women (in 2021[12]).
Methods and tools
Gender impact assessment and gender budgeting
There is no regular monitoring or systematic analysis of the development of gender mainstreaming actions, gender equality mechanisms and policies. There is also no systematic gender mainstreaming or gender budgeting in the national public administration in Hungary.
Training and awareness-raising
According to information provided by the Ministry of Human Capacities, there is no gender equality training organised for governmental employees in Hungary – neither in a mandatory nor on a voluntary basis.
Gender statistics
In Hungary, there is no legal obligation or any other kind of agreement in place for the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (HCSO - Központi Statisztikai Hivatal) or other bodies to collect data disaggregated by sex or disseminate gender statistics.
While no dedicated section on gender-statistics is available, the HCSO website[13] provides freely accessible sex-disaggregated data on topics such as “Healthcare”, “Living conditions” and “Income and consumption”. Specific datasets and indicators that are sex-disaggregated include: quarterly employment data (from 2009 onwards); net income (from 2019); detailed time-use data disaggregated by gender (1986, 1999, 2009); and living with a physical restriction and occurrence of chronic illness, subjective health status (2010, with no end date).
Starting in 2001, the HCSO has published a series of reports titled ‘Women and Men in Hungary’ (Nők és férfiak Magyarországon). The report is published biannually, with the most recent report issued in 2020 and includes data for 2019[14]. The table of contents is available free-of-charge online together with some sample-pages. The full publication is available in print format, for a fee. The publication contains gender statistics on health and healthcare, education, research and innovation, social protection, employment, wages, consumption and pensions, crime, and tourism.
No other public institution actively produces sex-disaggregated data. The Centre for Economic and Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences issues a freely downloadable annual publication on ‘The Hungarian Labour Market’ (Munkaerőpiaci Tükör)[15], including employment-related longitudinal data, some of which are sex-disaggregated. Furthermore, the 2018 issue focused specifically on women in the labour market and provides more nuanced sex-disaggregated data on economic activity for the years 1980–2017.
Monitoring progress
Indicators for monitoring progress on institutional mechanisms for the promotion of gender equality and gender mainstreaming in the EU, under Area H of the Beijing Platform for Action
This section analyses the scores achieved by Hungary for data collection in 2021 for the four officially agreed-on indicators on institutional mechanisms for the promotion of gender equality and gender mainstreaming to monitor progress on Area H of the Beijing Platform for Action. It also analyses scores under an expanded measurement framework which includes the role of independent gender equality bodies in gender mainstreaming and assesses the effectiveness of efforts to disseminate statistics disaggregated by sex. Institutional mechanisms refer to national machineries that implement, monitor, evaluate, and mobilise support for policies that promote gender equality and gender mainstreaming. All indicators and sub-indicators are available on the Gender Statistics Database here, including metadata about how the scores are calculated.
For Indicator H1 on the status of commitment to the promotion of gender equality and considering only the governmental commitment in line with the officially adopted indicator, Hungary scored 5.5 out of a possible 12, below the EU average of 7.2. This was partly because of missing data on the functions of the governmental body for sub-indicator H1d where up to two points were available. It scored well under sub-indicator H1e on accountability of the governmental gender equality body because it has a national action plan and strategy on gender equality in place which contributed 2.0 points to the score.
For sub-indicator H1f on the mandate and functions of the independent gender equality body included under the expanded measurement framework, Hungary scored an additional 1.5 points, out of a possible 3. Full points were not achieved partly because the mandate of the independent gender equality body is gender equality combined with other non-discrimination areas, rather than exclusively focused on gender equality. Thus, the overall score for the expanded H1 indicator was 7.0 out of a possible 15, below the EU average of 9.1.
Indicator H2 analyses the personnel resources of the national gender equality bodies. For sub-indicator H2a, regarding the governmental body, Hungary scored 0.0 because of missing data, against an EU average of 1.0. For sub-indicator H2b, regarding the independent gender equality body, Hungary scored 1.5 out of a maximum of 2, which was above the EU average of 0.8, because there were 25-100 employees working on gender equality in the independent body. Hungary did not score the maximum 2 points because the number of employees is less than 100 which is considered necessary for a fully well-resourced body.
Indicator H3 relates to gender mainstreaming. Here, Hungary scored 0.0 out of a possible 12, against an EU average of 5.1. This was primarily because of missing data for all sub-indicators.
For sub-indicator H3d on consultation of the independent equality body included under the expanded measurement framework, Hungary scored 0.0 points out of a maximum of 14, against an EU average of 5.4, again due to missing data.
For Indicator H4 on the production and dissemination of statistics disaggregated by sex, Hungary scored 0.0 points, out of a possible 6, against the EU average of 3.4. Under sub-indicator H4a on government commitment to the production of statistics disaggregated by sex, no data was provided and since there is no website or section of website to disseminate statistics disaggregated by sex, no points were achieved for sub-indicator H4b either.
References
Endnotes
[1] Act CXXV of 2003 on Equal Treatment and Promotion of Equal Opportunities. Available from: https://ec.europa.eu/migrant-integration/library-document/act-cxxv-2003-equal-treatment-and-promotion-equal-opportunities_en
[2] Alaptörvény - Magyarország Alaptörvénye (2011. április 25.). Available from: https://net.jogtar.hu/jogszabaly?docid=A1100425.ATV
[3] Government Resolution No.1004/I.21 on the National Strategy for the Promotion of Gender Equality – Guidelines and Objectives 2010-2021. Available from: https://docplayer.hu/1703788-A-nok-es-ferfiak-tarsadalmi-egyenloseget-elosegito-nemzeti-strategia-iranyok-es-celok-2010-2021.html
[4] Az Európai Unió számára készített “A nők szerepének erősítése a családban és a társadalomban Akcióterv (2021-2030). Available from: https://cdn.kormany.hu/uploads/sheets/5/52/527/527244615b5f9cd9e12ebdf761f1b36.pdf
[5] Government Resolution No.1004/I.21 on the National Strategy for the Promotion of Gender Equality – Guidelines and Objectives 2010-2021. Available from: https://docplayer.hu/1703788-A-nok-es-ferfiak-tarsadalmi-egyenloseget-elosegito-nemzeti-strategia-iranyok-es-celok-2010-2021.html
[6] Az Európai Unió számára készített “A nők szerepének erősítése a családban és a társadalomban Akcióterv (2021-2030)”. https://cdn.kormany.hu/uploads/sheets/5/52/527/527244615b5f9cd9e12ebdf761f1b36.pdf
[7] As explained in the following document: A Miniszterelnökséget vezető miniszter 5/2021. (III. 19.) MvM utasítása a Miniszterelnökség Szervezeti és Működési Szabályzatáról szóló 14/2018. (VII. 3.) MvM utasítás módosításáról. Available from: https://magyarkozlony.hu/dokumentumok/a55d738ead5e1082c8fee7cc6c31e17ddaa1702e/megtekintes#;=%22%C3%B6r%C3%B6kbefogad%C3%A1si%20%C3%A9s%20n%C5%91politikai%22
[8] A Miniszterelnökséget vezető miniszter 5/2021. (III. 19.) MvM utasítása a Miniszterelnökség Szervezeti és Működési Szabályzatáról szóló 14/2018. (VII. 3.) MvM utasítás módosításáról. Available from: https://magyarkozlony.hu/dokumentumok/a55d738ead5e1082c8fee7cc6c31e17ddaa1702e/megtekintes
[9] Nők Jogaiért Felelős Tematikus Munkacsoport. Available from: https://emberijogok.kormany.hu/nok-jogaiert-felelos-tematikus-munkacsoport
[10] EGYENLŐ BÁNÁSMÓDÉRT FELELŐS FŐIGAZGATÓSÁG. Available from: https://www.ajbh.hu/en/ebff
[11] A Munka és a magánélet egyensúlya. (Work-life balance). Available from: https://egeszsegvonal.gov.hu/maradj-egeszseges/munka-es-maganelet-egyensulya.html
[12] A COVID-19 járvány hatása a női munkavállalókra (The COVID-19 pandemic’s effects on female employees). Available from: https://www.parlament.hu/documents/10181/39233854/Infojegyzet_2021_13_COVID_noi_munkavallalok.pdf/11f71526-6ae0-e67d-25d6-fc3994dd5ec6?t=1618556805003
[13] Központi Statisztikai Hivatal, Homepage. Available from: - Központi Statisztikai Hivatal
[14] Nők és férfiak Magyarországon, 2019. Available from: https://www.ksh.hu/apps/shop.kiadvany?p_kiadvany_id=1058904&p_temakor_kod=KSH&p_lang=HU
[15] Munkaerőpiaci Tükör. Available from: https://kti.krtk.hu/kategoria/publikaciok/kti-kiadvany/munkaeropiaci-tukor/