Ambiguities of Emancipation : Women and the Ethnic Question in Hungary

Examines the ambiguous nature of women's political emancipation in Hungary & its relationship to ethnic issues. The liberation of women occurred during a time of great ethnic & social fragmentation of Hungarian society, shortly after the turn of the century. When the demand for women's suffrage became public, a large proportion of these vocal women were of ethnic minority groups. Women's suffrage thus became connected to the suffrage of minorities. Although women were given the vote in 1920, restrictions were placed on the attendance of women & Jews in public institutions. It is concluded that, for Hungarian feminism to survive under such conditions, it had to ignore many of the gender concerns associated with Western feminism; there was a destructive component to women's emancipation in Hungary. Adapted from the source document.