Hungary: Over representation of women in higher education can endanger economy

According to a study, Hungary’s “pink education” trend, which favours women, could harm the country’s economy, reduce birth rates, and disadvantage men.

According to the economic watchdog of the parliament, who is regarded as being close to Prime Minister Viktor Orban, women are overrepresented in higher education in Hungary.

The authors expressed concern that a rise in the number of female graduates might reduce women’s propensity to get married and start families.

Hungary’s birth rate has been on the decline, and Mr. Orban has hoped to increase it.

He announced in 2019 that women who have four children will never have to pay income tax again.

The State Audit Office report was released last month, but the Nepszava newspaper has just now begun to cover its findings. Many Hungarian politicians and human rights experts have criticised its contents.

It was discovered that over the previous ten years, more women than men had enrolled in universities in Hungary, with the proportion this fall standing at 54.5%. Male students were leaving school at a higher rate, which raised the possibility that the teaching profession’s feminization may have resulted in 82% of teachers being female.

Sexual equality would be “considerably weakened,” according to the report, because “feminine traits” like emotional and social maturity were valued in Hungary’s educational system.

If “masculine traits,” which they defined as technical expertise, risk-taking, and entrepreneurship, were undervalued, the researchers warned, Hungary’s economy might be in danger.

According to the report, this may even have an effect on daily life, leaving young people unsure of what to do with “a frozen computer, a dripping tap, or furniture that has arrived flat-packed and there is no one to put it together.”

Endre Toth, a politician from the opposition in Hungary, criticised the report on Facebook, writing: “It’s time to take off your 20th-century glasses.” He also referred to it as “total scientific absurdity” to distinguish between so-called feminine and masculine traits.

Lydia Gall of Human Rights Watch tweeted that it was “another blow to gender equality and women’s rights in Hungary”.

Hungary recently chose Katalin Novak as its first female president, but the country still has the lowest proportion of female politicians in the EU.

The European Commission is bringing legal action against it because of a contentious “anti-gay law” that forbids depicting homosexuality to those under the age of 18.

Viktor Orban has repeatedly disagreed with the EU on matters pertaining to the rule of law, such as press freedom and immigration, and he has called his vision of Hungary a “illiberal democracy.”