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GENDER HISTORY RETROSPECTIVE IN HUNGARY AFTER 1949
considered to be unmatched in Europe for a long time. Other states in Central
or even Western Europe introduced a similar benefit only a decade later.
The introduction of this benefit was mandated by several factors. As it is
commonly known, after when the echoes of the so-called Ratké-era (with an
abortion ban being in effect between 1953 and 1956) died away, the number
of childbirths began to drop drastically in Hungary. Massive concern from the
central authority was further increased by the fact that members of the “ba¬
by-boom generation” started to be born in this very period in the western
countries. Beside demographic reasons, certain labour market concerns can
also be assumed to have been behind the introduction of GYES, because it may
have appeared as a solution to prevent unemployment if a segment of women
could be drawn out of the labour market."
Zsuzsa Ferge states that what became apparent by the 70s could have been
suspected before that as well, namely that the significant development in
quantity had practically reached its peak in multiple areas.*4° GYES (which
was 40% of the average women’s salary) was applied for by 265 thousand
women in 1975; this was 11% of women of childbearing age.**° Following this,
a new childcare benefit called GYED was introduced in 1985, which was also
tied to the former occupation of women. However, neither brought a complete
solution regarding the family situation of women.
WOMEN’S IDEAL, FATE OF WOMEN UNDER STATE SOCIALISM
The women’s ideal and the female identity was not completely homogenous
during socialism outside of the constant traditional male-female role content,
but was permanently being shaped by variables such as class (and in relation
to it: the level of education), financial circumstances, but above all, the current
official ideology of the state at any given time.
On the basis of the last, Zsuzsa Ferge has divided the changes of approach
regarding women into four distinct periods, starting with 1945. The first period
(1) was the time between 1945 and 1965, with the ideal being the working wom¬
an with an income, the interests of the child were not handled as a priority. The
second period (2) engulfed the time after 1965, when it was considered that
employment — or more specifically, overdriven work — ought not to hinder the
M. (ed.): Bevezetés a szocidlpolitika nem szerinti értelmezésébe — ,,Gendering Social Policy”,
Budapest, ELTE TaTK, 2012, 154, http://docplayer.hu/28102966-Bevezetes-a-szocialpoliti¬
ka-nem-szerinti-ertelmezesebe-gendering-social-policy.html (accessed 15 June 2020).
344 Makay, Zs.: 50 éve vezették be a gyermekgondozási segélyt (GYES), Korfa: Népesedési Hirle¬
vél, 2017, 17(3), 1—4.
345 See Ferge: Változik-e manapság, 884.
346 See Makay: 50 éve vezették be, 2.
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