'Let Every Day be Women's Day', Says Budapest Mayor - Gender Equality in Hungary 'Awful'

  • 9 Mar 2026 6:07 AM
'Let Every Day be Women's Day', Says Budapest Mayor - Gender Equality in Hungary 'Awful'
"Every day should be celebrated as Women's Day because a world in which women's decisions and participation in society have as much weight as those of men is a better world for men, too," Gergely Karácsony, the mayor of Budapest, said in a video uploaded to Facebook on Sunday, International Women's Day.

Concerning the situation of women in Hungary, Karacsony said they were discriminated at work, had restricted access to certain positions and in the same jobs they were not as well paid as men.

He insisted that statistics indicating gender equality in Hungary were "awful" and said that "it also means that we stifle certain energies, women are not allowed to contribute to the country's development, its economy and society as much and it makes all of us poorer."

"It would be difficult to accuse the government of attaching too much significance to women's equality, which is also demonstrated by the lack of women in the government,"
 the mayor said.

Karacsony slammed ruling Fidesz for "forcing on society the illusion that the primary role of women is associated with raising children and ensuring a safe family environment -- as if those obligations should not apply to men just as well or as if Hungary did not have countless women whose talent and hard work is crucial for society."
 

Concerning the practice of using female images in commercial and political advertisements, the mayor said those ads "depict a virtual reality that will only frustrate people rather than making them happy."

"Fidesz's manipulation industry makes use of that; they combine global capitalism and political despotism ... I hope there will come a time when we can suppress commercial ads and simply remove political propaganda," Karacsony said.
 

Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881. While MTI articles are usually factual, some may contain political bias, and readers should be aware that such content does not reflect the position of XpatLoop, which is neutral and independent.

Since the goal of XpatLoop is to keep readers well briefed, right across the spectrum of opinions, MTI items are shared to ensure readers are aware of all narratives within the local media.

XpatLoop believes in empowering readers to form their own views through complete and comprehensive coverage. To facilitate this XpatLoop has a balanced range of news partners, as you can see when you surf around XpatLoop.com

 

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