This is not science, but an ideology….. So, the subject should not be there in university curriculum. This is the view of the Hungarian government that has decided to stop financing Gender Studies courses at various universities. In a statement, the Ministry for Human Capacities recently said that the proposed ban would come into effect at the beginning of the 2019 academic year. The ministry also said that the government made a final decision in this regard as the employers showed no interest in graduates from the subject.
Chief of Staff Gergely Gulyas has spelled out the government’s ideological opposition, saying:”The Hungarian government is of the clear view that people are mostly born as male or female. They lead their lives the way they think best, but beyond this, the Hungarian state does not wish to spend public funds on education in this area.”

Currently, Gender Studies courses are taught at the state-run Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) and Central European University (CEU) – the top two universities in Hungary. The ministry has confirmed that current students will receive certificates next year, but the department will receive no funds from the government.
Immediately after receiving a circular in this regard, the CEU authorities said that the government’s decision was shocking, adding that researchers could work on this subject, as the university runs some projects jointly with New York-based Bard College.

Eötvös Loránd University Library in Budapest

For his part, Dean of ELTE (Social Sciences Faculty) Gabor Juhasz said: “We consider it worrying that the proposal aims to shut down a course dealing with social relations between men and women, gender inequalities, as well as issues of family and demographics.”
Gender Studies is a popular subject in many Western countries. Each and every university in the EU and northern America has the course on Gender Studies in their curriculum. The course is also popular in Asia and Africa. Then, what’s the problem with Hungary?
The global community has strongly criticised the Hungarian government for making such a move, as people across the world believe that it is a “dangerous precedent” for state interference. The people are of the opinion that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is basically trying to suppress those who are against his government’s conservative policies. In recent past, PM Orbán triggered a controversy by not allowing the refugees to take shelter in his country at a time when other European countries accommodated those people. He had also taken actions against non-governmental voluntary orgnisations for criticising the government policies. And now, he is trying to ban a subject in an attempt to destroy the ideological bases of his opponents.

Viktor Orbán

Sociologist Balint Botond said: “Gender-faithful liberals have already caused irreparable harm in the souls of generations growing up in the past decades. We need to fight them without compromise and achieve a complete victory, otherwise they will end up destroying us.” He believes that the ban on Gender Studies could deepen the anxiety in the EU over the direction Hungary is taking.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das