Women should have the freedom to choose: government policy is geared towards ensuring they neither “lose out” if they take on a traditional role of the mother nor if they work in parallel with motherhood, Zoltán Balog told a conference organised by the Nőiszem association and the Hungarian Women’s Union.

Hungary has a “uniquely generous” family policy. Since 2010, allocations for supporting families have increased by 80 percent. In 2017, a total of 1,741 billion forints budget support — 4.7 percent of the GDP as against the OECD average of 2.55 percent — has been allocated for Hungarian families.

Whereas between 2002 and 2010 the number of marriages fell by 23 percent, in the past six years it increased by 50 percent, he added. Balog noted Budapest’s Corvinus University will be offering a Family Science Master’s programme.

Head of parliament’s subcommittee for female dignity, Mónika Dunai, of the ruling Fidesz party, insisted if any discrimination did between men and women in Hungary it was positive.

The constitution allows the positive discrimination of women, and parliament used this possibility when it voted to allow women to retire after 40 years of work, she added.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.