CEDAW/C/SR.36 English Page 4 (Mr. Somogyi, Hungary) 12. The principle of equal pay for equal work generally applied in Hungary, pay being based on performance rather then sex. However, on the average women earned from 20 to 30 per cent less than men in most occupational groups and 15 per cent less in leadership posts. 13. The Labour Code and the Social Security Act did not differentiate between the sexes except in so far as was required to protect women and motherhood. A list of work-places barred to women because they were hazardous or harmful to health was regularly revised and updated, and there were restrictions relating to pregnant women and mothers of young children. Working mothers were not allowed to work after the fourth month of pregnancy and until their children reached six months of age and were not allowed to work overtime or on night shift until their children were one year old. Pregnant and nursing women were not allowed to work in places which were dangerous to their health and must be guaranteed the same pay if they were transferred from such work. The Labour Code also prohibited termination of employment for pregnant or nursing mothers during child care leave or unpaid leave to care for a sick child and while mothers were nursing their own or another child in a State-operated nursery. The retirement age for women was 55 as opposed to 60 for men. Women were not compelled to retire at that age and could work part-time to supplement their pensions. 14. Since 1967 a child care allowance had been paid to working mothers once they had completed 20 weeks of maternity leave on full pay and if they decided to remain at home until the children reached the age of three. That allowance increased according to the number of children and represented a major legal, social and political achievement. Throughout the period of child care leave, women acquired the same rights with regard to pay, holidays, pensions etc. as if they were actually at work. That provision had created controversy, however, since it reduced the labour force and had created psychological or material problems for some mothers. Steps had therefore been taken to remedy the situation by offering the mothers vocational training courses or allowing them to return to work. A new rule stipulated that they could work up to four hours a day once their children had reached one and a half years of age and still receive the full child-care allowance. If the mother chose to return to work rather than be paid the allowance, she was paid for sick leave if she had to stay at home when her child was ill. Nurseries and kindergartens had also been established for the children of working mothers and, in 1982, had the capacity to receive 90 per cent of all children in the pre-school age group. In fact, all children could attend nursery school for one year prior to commencing primary school. 15. The problem of child care leave was one aspect of the contradiction between women's family and career responsibilities. That contradiction remained to be resolved but the general circumstances of women's lives have been improved and the two-fold burden represented by women's role as mothers and workers had been reduced. 16. With companies spend two more than regard to recreation and leisure facilities, he pointed out that most and trade unions offered recreation facilities at which workers could weeks' holiday a year. Discounts or bonuses were paid to families with three children or to single parents. I ...