European Integration: Politics of Opportunity for Hungarian Women

Abstract

Reviewing the literature on gender equality in Eastern Europe by Eastern European authors the first impression is the striking absence of analyses on EU gender mainstreaming policy. Besides the government sponsored translations of EU laws, and descriptive hence self assuring official governmental reports there are very few pro-active works which might consider the mutual implication of EU enlargement as far as the implementation of norm of gender equality is concerned. As after the enlargement process the external becomes internal, it also means the complex realities of post socialist gender relations will be contributing to the already pressing uncertainties and inconsistencies of EU gender equality norms and will challenge the provisional facilitating instruments. Exporting EU gender equality policies to Eastwards means that EU policy makers assume that these policies are adequate and the only acceptable means to achieve to desire gender equality in the East. The paper analyses the process of policy transfer and the consequences of the de jure legal harmonization. Also the comparison how gender equality policy is implemented in the EU and in Hungary in the policy areas might answer to the question if gender equality values are different from other values.