Hungarian women still happy to play housewife

A recent study by the Népességtudományi Kutatóintézet (Demographic Research Institute) has found that Hungarian women do more housework than any other nationality in Europe, writes daily Népszabadság. Hungarian women do 3.3 times more cooking and cleaning than their partners, conservative thinking that also ensures Hungarian households have the least conflict in this area of any nationality. The data are supported by an earlier American survey.

But Hungarian men are also considerably more active when it comes to shopping and repairs around the house than their international counterparts.

Despite this more "old-fashioned" division of roles, female respondents to the survey largely said they were happy with the arrangement, rating their level of satisfaction on a par with more "emancipated" women from Germany and France.

Several other interesting statistics emerged from the study. Large numbers of both Hungarian men (37%) and women (28%) disagreed with the statement that "women should not be required to seek agreement with their partners on what they spend their money on." In Germany, these figures were 5.2% and 3.7% respectively and no country exceeded 16%.

In addition, 75% of women and 66% of men agreed that "a women needs children for her life to be complete," compared to just 27% and 24% in Russia, 12% and 8% in eastern Germany and 42% and 40% in France, for instance.

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