Oldal 122 [122]
IZOLDA TAKÁCS: THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
motherly role. Ihis meant that the ideal woman in this period was the good
mother, and the interests of children were taking primacy as well (the institution
of GYES was introduced in this same period). 1he third period (3) lasted from
1975 to 1980, and it was typically characterised by accommodating work and
family, but a definable ideal had not taken shape. Finally, the fourth period (4)
was the one after 1980. Ihe pivotal expectation of this era was for society to
acknowledge the social importance of family, children, as well as taking care of
the sick and elderly. Ferge concludes that the notion of the ideal woman previ¬
ously containing the attribute of “good mother” was thereby expanded into “the
Good Samaritan”, because caretaking and nursing is naturally a female task.
This meant that the new woman's ideal became: “good mother, good wife, good
caretaker”. The motif of self-sacrifice became even more accentuated than before,
not to mention that the interests of women were almost completely subordinated
to the interest of children."
Table 1. Women’s ideal in state socialism
Change of | 1st period 2nd period 3rd period 4th period
women’s 1945 to 1965 | after 1965 1975 to 1980 | after 1980
ideals in
state so¬
cialism
Charac- — the idealis | — the mother- | —- can funda- | - society needs to
teristics the earner, ly role of a mentally be acknowledge tak¬
the working | woman can- typified by ing care of family,
woman not be hin- the reconcili- | children, sick and
dered by em- ation of work | elderly to be an
ployment or and family important social
overdriven interest
work — the trait of “the
Good Samaritan”
got added to being
a “good mother”
— interests of | — the ideal — no defin- — the new ideal
children woman isa able women’s | became “good
were not good mother, ideal has mother, good wife,
considered the interests taken shape good caretaker”
to be im- of children are
portant also pivotal
Own edited resource, 2019
Ferge considered these constant shifts in values to be dangerous from mul¬
tiple aspects, because she claims that “achieving clearer, unambiguous
347 Ferge: Változik-e manapság, 903.
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