KINCS Minutes on the occasion of the International Women's Day – the situation of women in the world of families and work: Another short film about the results of the Hungarian family and demography policies of the Maria Kopp Institute
In the past decade, women in Hungary could take advantage of more and more opportunities to reconcile their family and work responsibilities. The fifth part of the KINCS Minutes is about measures helping women on International Women's Day.
While under the left-wing governments only slightly more than half of women aged 20-64 worked and the unemployment rate was two and a half times higher than it is now, by 2021, three quarters were already employed, exceeding the EU average. Over the course of a decade, the employment of mothers raising three or more children has increased the most, and there has been a significant increase among women raising children under the age of six. The employment rate of mothers of schoolchildren is now reaching 90%.
Women with small children receive significant support in reconciling work and family through the flexible system of childcare benefits, the GYED extra, which allows them to work and continue to receive childcare support. The amount of the infant care free had been raised from 70 to 100% of the previous income in July 2021. Since 2010, the maximum amount of childcare allowance and GYED has increased more than two and a half times as a result of the increase in the minimum wage, from 102 thousand HUF to 280 thousand HUF.
The provision of kindergarten education for all children from the age of three and a renewed and expanding network of public nurseries help women raising small children to return to the labour market. Since 2010, the number of nursery places has increased by 70%, and now a third of children between the ages of one and three can benefit from the service.
Hungary is a family-friendly country, where it has become easier for women to balance family and work obligations. This is due to the fact that both employment and childbearing are increasing among Hungarian women. Let's keep it like that, let's keep our common treasures.
