Study says Hungarian business still discriminates against women

The study, which is carried out quarterly in 34 countries to investigate employee attitudes, asked 400 Hungarian employees questions related to their working hours. One in four employees said they believe that between women and men working in the same positions, female workers earn less than their male peers. Randstad confirmed that female workers earn 16% less than their male peers in the EU, according to data from the World Economic Forum 2015, while the equivalent figure in Hungary is 18.4%. 

While the European Union targets gender equality, social imprinting undermines such efforts, according to Ágnes Szokody of Randstad Hungary. “Running a household and raising the children is still traditionally the job of a woman in the family, an idea which does not support career building,” Szokody said.

Furthermore, the study found, every second employee feels that employers prefer to opt for male candidates over females when hiring new workers or promoting staff. Six in ten women said they feel at a disadvantage to their male peers when being considered for a position. These tendencies seem to prove true despite the fact that nine in ten employees said they like to work in mixed-gender teams, feeling such teams to be more efficient.

Two out of three respondents involved in the study said they would choose males over female peers for leading positions, which was  agreed by women as well, Randstad Hungary said. “This unfortunately has not changed in the past three years,” Szokody noted. Two thirds of employees involved in the study said their supervisors are men, a tendency which is experienced around the world, Randstad observed.