“A woman shouldn’t compare herself to a man every second of her life, and shouldn’t believe she has to have the same position and the same salary as a man does”, said Hungary’s Minister for Family Affairs Katalin Novák in her latest video message that caused controversy online.
She further added that “no woman should believe she is not complete and perfect enough as a stay-at-home mother”, yet the aforementioned mother doesn’t need to decide between family life and career either in case she wanted both at the same time. Ms Novák argued that a woman has enormous power, so much in fact that she can carry not only her own burdens, but those of others as well, so while having children is a big responsibility, it’s always worthwhile deciding to create a happy Hungarian family.
Her message is awash with hypocrisy, given the Minister’s own salary and position. What she failed to point out is that many Hungarian women simply cannot afford to stay at home, not because they do not feel their lives are complete and fulfilled as mothers, but out of financial necessity. Women in Hungary often have to decide between having a family and raising children or pursuing the career that they dream of, considering that the current circumstances in Hungary are not in favour of career-focused mothers, to say the least.
Despite all the above, I didn’t take umbrage at most parts of Katalin Novák’s confusing and hypocritical message, simply because I had never expected anything different from her, and also because I, as other Hungarian women, am tired of the lies and cheap bits of gristle like this one, dropped for the public to chew on. There were only two points that stuck in my throat.
First and foremost, as a resident of Central Europe, I am ashamed that my own government has no qualms in conveying a message that would have been embarrassing even if it had been uttered even a century ago. It is not ok for anyone – even less so a government representative in charge of family affairs – to try to convince me that I should be content earning less money doing the same work as a man. Although far from being a world example in terms of gender equality, women’s rights were thought of more freely twenty years ago in our country.
Katalin Novák further emphasized that “we [women] shouldn’t renounce our privileges in a falsely interpreted emancipatory fight”. What does that even mean?
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Photo: Fortepan
Life in Hungary 