Abstract

Vast changes within East and Central Europe since 1989 have brought countries in this region, including Hungary, under sharp focus. This important study of women's situation within the changing context of Hungarian society gives a comprehensive overview of the various factors which make up women's lives. Rather than experiencing social radicalism in the 1960s, women in Hungary were experiencing the full effects of their rigid, authoritarian statist policies. What this meant for their everyday lives is considered in terms of women's paid and unpaid work, family ideologies, social policy innovations, women's health care, changing attitudes, and women's hopes and aspirations. Against the background of new openings on the political scene, questions concerning civil society and space for women's agendas are vital.