OCR Output

IZOLDA TAKÁCS: THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY

the crying baby up. And we had complete eguality in terms ofsharing the household
burden as well. (Subject no. 1, social sciences)

But this was a great win in my life: my peaceful family, and my understanding,
loving husband. So I felt no disadvantage in my career for being a whoman, and this
was incredibly lucky. (Subject no. 10, technical sciences)

I once got an invitation to a conference abroad. Our child was very little back then,
but both my husband and the child came along, for it could not be left without a
mother, and I fed the child in the breaks between conferences. And my husband
waited with the child outside, taking care of it while I made my presentation.
However, he is a peer, so he knows these conferences are important (Subject no. 22,

natural sciences).

Maria Schadt has also pointed out that the significant influx of women onto
the labour market could only have created equal opportunities on a broader
scale between men and women if taking care of family and tasks related to the
household are institutionalised, and the state takes over certain responsibilities
of childcare.**°

Though the number of places in nurseries and kindergarten increased sig¬
nificantly (tripled) in Hungary between 1950 and 1975, this was not propor¬
tional to the extent of women entering the labour market.**° Not to mention
that preschool institutions were quite often inappropriate and of a lesser
quality due to the high numbers, and that they could not take over the burden
of nurturing from a large number of women due to constant supply issues.

This phenomenon was present until the end of this era, and we needn't
forget that the services could be used by government employees in most cases."
In other words, "the important institutions of state socialism necessary for
women and families (nurseries, kindergarten, schools with daycare option) did
indeed take over a part of the burden carried by housewives, all this was not
able to create profound changes in the attitude towards domestic roles, how¬
ever.”

The state virtually acquitted itself from developing nurseries with the in¬
troduction of GYES (Gyermekgondozäsi segély, The Social Childcare Fee) in
1967, which practically put all the material and cultural duties of bearing and
bringing up a child onto individual women.°* The institution of GYES was

339 Schadt: , A feltörekvő dolgozó nő", 54.

340 See Aczél, Zs.: Üzemi óvodák 1945 és 1975 között, Iskolakultúra, 22(5), 2012, 37-55 and
Schadt: , A feltörekvő dolgozó nő"

341 Aczél: Üzemi óvodák, 39.

342 Neményi-Takács: Családfenntartó anyák, 358—359.

343 Cf. Dr. Adamik, M.: A gondoskodás ökonómiája az államszocializmusban. A gyes-diskurzus
avagy a szocialista modernizáció válasza a nemek közötti egyenlőség kihívására, in Adamik,

* 118 +