Social status of Hungarian (sports) women before and after the 1989-1990 political system change

Abstract

Since the change in the Hungarian political system in 1989-1990, many different articles have been written about the position of Hungarian women, but there appear to be few studies focusing on the social status of sportswomen. The major aim of this paper is to fill this gap and to explore Hungarian sportswomen’s social position before and after the political system change. During state socialism, in spite of the politics of “state feminism”, equal opportunities were not established for women and men; the only result was an increase in the number of women who were employed. In this era, sport was one of the most successful institutions, with female top-level athletes having a higher standard of living than most others in the population. In the first part of this study the author analyses the social status of sportswomen in comparison with non-sportswomen and sportsmen before the democratic changes.After 1990, the privileged status of sports was discontinued, which changed the sportswomen’s situation fundamentally. Today they usually face similar social problems that affect other social groups in society as well. In the second part of this paper the author makes an attempt to explore the present situation of sportswomen from the same point of view as mentioned before. Data was collected by structured interviews with retired and active female athletes. The results are analysed according to the following dimensions: income, possibilities for studying, preparation for civil life, social capital and opportunities to translate social capital to economic one.