Report on high women graduate numbers sparks controversy

A report by the State Audit Office of Hungary (ÁSZ), seen as close to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, says a “pink education” phenomenon in Hungary that favours women could endanger the economy, lower birth rates and disadvantage men, reports the BBC News. The authors warned that an increase in female graduates could make women less likely to marry and have children.

Over the past decade, it found that more women than men had enrolled in Hungary’s universities, with the number this autumn at 54.5%. Male students were meanwhile dropping out at a higher rate, and it suggested that the feminisation of the teaching profession may have led to 82% of teachers being women.

The report was published last month but its findings have only just been picked up by the Népszava newspaper. Its contents have been criticised by several Hungarian politicians and human rights experts.
Full report on the BBC News site

Meanwhile a report in Hungary Today argues that foreign media have distorted the report of the State Audit Office. It claims, for example, that the BBC report ignored the fact that it was not the authors or the ÁSZ who classified certain characteristics as feminine or masculine, but the literature cited and the parents and teachers interviewed by researchers.
Full report on the Hungary Today site