Disciplining the “Second World”: the relationship between transnational and local forces in contemporary Hungarian women's social movements

Abstract

During the past 20 years, Hungarian women's movements have been increasingly reaching out to their transnational counterparts for inspiration and support. The activists' growing exposure at the transnational level has profoundly affected the thematic foci that they select for mobilisation. Generational and information-technology changes have both added to the increasing focus of Hungarian women's organisations on domestic violence. Such a shift has channelled attention away from welfare-related issues for the sake of resonance and transnational support. This article investigates these trends and changes, suggests reasons for their emergence, and addresses their implications.

Keywords:

• transnational social movements
• women's activism
• Hungary
• gender
• welfare
• public policies

Notes on contributor

Katalin Fábián studies the intersection of gender and globalisation as they influence various policy processes of emerging democracies. She edited Globalization: Perspectives from Central and Eastern Europe (Elsevier, 2007) and served as the editor of a special issue of Canadian-American Slavic Studies that focused on the changing international relations of Central and Eastern Europe. Her book Contemporary Women's Movements in Hungary: Globalization, Democracy, and Gender Equality (Johns Hopkins University Press and Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2009) analyses the emergence and political significance of women's activism in Hungary. She conducted research among government officials and activists of NGOs that support victims of domestic violence in the post-Soviet Baltic countries, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, and Slovakia. This research led her to contribute chapters to and edit Domestic Violence in Postcommunist States: Local Activism, National Policies, and Global Forces (Indiana University Press, 2010), which focuses on the transnational connections between the various European and Eurasian post-communist movements against domestic violence.

Notes

1. The social context and their dynamics are very different in these countries. During the 1970s, “second wave” women's movement, American women were entering both higher education and the full-time paid labour market en masse. In contrast, two decades later, Hungarian women were losing both their educational advantage and their high labour participation rates which have dropped since the 1990s to become one of the lowest in Europe (Frey 2011).

2. The description of the Optional Protocol and the dates of signatures and ratifications can be found here: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/protocol/sigop.htm and http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-8-b&chapter=4&lang=en.

3. NANE's website lists their publications (http://nane.hu/kiadvanyok/kezikonyvek.html) where many handbooks on how to establish and run a shelter (El az erőszaktól! A női menhelyek felállításának és fenntartásának minőségi standardjai) and the Integrated Client Service for Victims of Violence against Women can be downloaded for free. Highlighting the importance of NANE's handbooks, they were handed out as examples to follow at the 26 July 2013 meeting of the Association of Women Judges, where a delegation of high-ranking Chinese judges also participated (Bírónők Egyesülete 2013).