CEDAW/C/SR.36 English Page 3 (Mr. Somogyi, Hungary) 5. In labour matters, no labour law or regulations could be adopted without the consent of the trade unions. 6. Any woman could present political or legislative initiatives to the Communist Party, whether she was a Party member or not, as an individual or as the member of an organization. In that connection, non-Party members could be elected or appointed to any public office other than posts in the Party. 7. There was no general feeling of antagonism towards women in Hungary: women were accepted as equal partners in all areas of life. The National Council encouraged women's awareness of their situation and their proper place in the family and in society. Women were in the vanguard of the peace movement. The President of the National Council for Peace was a woman and many of the officials of the National Solidarity Committee were also women. Both organizations co-operated actively with the international peace movement and national liberation movements. 8. In the course of the development of a socialist society, women had become very valuable members and prejudice against them had been eliminated. The objective conditions for equality between men and women now existed and all that remained was to remove the subjective impediments to equality. Education played a valuable role in that connection. At present, SO to 60 per cent of students in higher education, 60 to 80 per cent of those in secondary education and 33 per cent of those in vocational schools were girls. Forty per cent of those with university degrees, 54 per cent of graduates from secondary schools and 58 per cent of skilled workers were women. After 40 years of compulsory education up to the age of 16, illiteracy had been virtually eliminated. 9. The new social order had created the basis for women's total liberation and self-realization. The fact that women had become independent wage earners had altered their position in the family; while traditions could not be changed overnight, women's position in family relations was much improved. 10. With regard to employment, he said that the right to work was guaranteed by the Constitution. Prior to the introduction of a socialist system, half of all women in Hungary had been unable to find work and the remainder had been employed mainly in menial agricultural or domestic work. Nowadays, if women were unable to work for health or other reasons, they were assisted under the social security system. 11. Women accounted for a substantial proportion of the labour force in industry, non-material sectors, agriculture and forestry, and trade. They represented a small proportion of the labour force in transport and telecommunications, construction and water supply management. The largest concentration of women was to be found in the health, social and cultural services where they represented 75.4 per cent of the labour force. Thirty-nine per cent of wage-earning women were blue collar workers and 61 per cent were white collar workers. At 10 per cent, women's representation in managerial posts was considerably lower because of their generally lower level of education and skills. That situation was improving, however, as women's education gradually reached the level of men's. I .. .