Violetta Zentai

GENDER EQUALITY POLICY OR GENDER MAINSTREAMING

The aim of this article is to analyse some of the core conceptual and implementation issues underpinning the process of introducing gender mainstreaming strategy in Hungary. It examines the approach of Hungarian policy makers to gender mainstreaming and evaluates the political framing of some crucial aspects of gender equality. Our argument in this article is twofold. First, we observe that the concept of gender mainstreaming as a cross-sectoral and comprehensive policy tool for achieving gender equality has only been sporadically present and this has mostly been located at the rhetorical level. Hungary has no comprehensive gender equality strategy and no distinctive gender equality policy instruments currently in place. Rather, the promotion of equal opportunity on all grounds has become a powerful policy approach in the last two to three years, often neglecting the specific requirements of gender equality. Secondly, we argue that the influence of the European Union (EU) accession process has had two stages, as far as gender equality policy is concerned in Hungary. The first stage, has referred primarily to the de jure harmonization of Hungarian legislation with relevant EU directives, but has brought very little harmonization at the policy level, and brought limited de facto realization of the rights imposed by the directives. The second stage, identified from mid-2003, is coterminous with Hungary joining the different EU level policy processes. This second stage signaled a shift from legislative harmonization to a more focused policy approach. This stage may be characterized as a direct process of EU-isation on Hungarian policy concepts and tools, such as gender mainstreaming. However, it is too early to judge the practical implications of this development.

Institutionalizing Intersectionality in Central and Eastern Europe: Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia

Countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEEC) emerged in the early 1990s from a half-century-long state socialist emancipation project (Fodor 2004, Gal and Kligman 2000) to join global processes of human rights and gender equality norms diffusion. This brought about a shift from the total absence of formal equality policies towards an increasing recognition, formalization, and institutionalization of equality concerns within a relatively short period of time. Although most comparative research has conspicuously failed to document them in the region, gender equality institutions started to emerge from the mid-1990s.

The Interview in Migration Studies: A Step towards a Dialogue and Knowledge Co-production?

The interview in its various forms, applications and methods of analysing data remains a central tool in qualitative research. For migration studies, this method has proved indispensable, especially when researching vulnerable groups of people on the move, and collecting data about various aspects of irregularity, grey economic activities, and the autonomy and agency of mobile people. The interview is, however, being increasingly used in policy research, elite research, and to obtain expert opinion in various forms of qualitative research. Interviews are also essential to scholarly endeavours that pursue collaborative knowledge production and participant research. As a method, various forms of interview allow for the unveiling of knowledge which otherwise remains under the radar of formal surveys and other more standardized data collection forms. Additionally, forms such as biographical and life story interviews, or unstructured interviews, generate space for the respondent to actively direct the research inquiry, and for the researcher to map out areas not originally foreseen. Among the most contested aspects of the interview remains its interpretation through processing and presenting the data collected this way. Our chapter will therefore examine examples of exploring ways to present rich data collected through interviews, and discuss its potential for European migration studies.

With Eyes Wide Shut. Job Searching Qualified Roma and Employee Seeking Companies

This article is dedicated to Julia Szalai who researches the underlying reasons, consequences and mechanisms of the social exclusion of the Roma in Central and East European societies. Her work and her writings serve as a compass for those who examine problems of social exclusion, including the authors of this article. The present paper discusses position of the Roma on the Hungarian job-market, focusing on highly-qualified young Roma within the context of the business sphere. Our knowledge is informed by the first results of an initiative which creates bridges between disadvantaged social groups and the business sector through pro-active measures. The initiative mobilizes multinational companies, business trainers, NGOs promoting social inclusion, and academics. Both the initiative and our study intend to pursue a subtle understanding of the tangible and hidden obstacles that highly educated young Roma encounter when seeking employment, and of the dilemmas that multinational companies face in relating to these prospective employees.