Page 28 [28]
IZOLDA TAKÁCS: THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
and their role in society adversely, and they should above all not lead to dis¬
crimination. On the contrary, they should rather contribute to an egual dis¬
tribution of social, political and economic power in order for it to be suitable
for all groups.? In summary, this can be interpreted as the principle of freedom
and discrimination according to Rawls — i.e. a distributive justice.
As a result, if one group is disadvantaged for the benefit of another group
because of one of its protected characteristics, fundamental freedoms are also
violated. We also understood that the catalogue of human rights, the declara¬
tion of fundamental rights, did not fundamentally solve the problem of gender
inequality. Therefore, in order to ensure that human rights are not violated
(due to fundamental differences), an anti-discrimination legislation was nec¬
essary in practical application as well, covering different forms of discrimina¬
tion, even considering positive discrimination justified in certain cases.
We are also aware that this problem, along with the question of justice, can
(along with quoting the ideas of some theorists and logically analysing them)
primarily be grasped as to what fundamental differences social systems need
to take into account, and which are those that need to be considered equal ac¬
cording to the universal human concept. This abstract humanist concept and
the inclusion of individual differences also provide the basis for the practical
regulation and constitutionalization of equal treatment and equal opportunities.
LEGAL REGULATION OF EQUAL TREATMENT IN PRACTICE
The rules which prohibit all forms of discrimination against women are sensi¬
tive to the principles mentioned in the previous section.
The European Community first enshrined the requirement of equal treat¬
ment between men and women in Article 141 (ex. Article, 119) of the Treaty
of Rome as a right to “equal pay for equal work”.
Another significant step was the 1979 CEDAW Convention, which sought
to combat discrimination in political participation, education, employment,
pay, and family law decisions.*° Hungary, in turn, ratified and introduced it
into domestic law by Act X of 1982.
In addition, other legal documents contain provisions for women as well,
some of which universally prohibit discrimination. For example, States Parties
to the European Social Charter adopted in Turin in 1961 were to select a min¬
imum of 16 of the 38 rights, of which 6 were to be selected from the 9 most
important, namely the right to work, equality between men and women, the
39 Cf. Monori: Esélyegyenlőség, 8.
19 Kovács: Nemzetközi jog, 376.
+ 26 +