Hungary to stop funding for gender studies

Euronews reports that Hungary’s government will stop financing gender studies university courses, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff said on Tuesday, marking one of the first concrete steps in a cultural shift signalled last month.

Re-elected in April to a third consecutive term, right-wing nationalist Orban said in July that major cultural and intellectual changes were in the works, adding that his landslide victory was “nothing short of a mandate to build a new era”.

Chief of staff Gergely Gulyas cited low enrolment numbers, which he said would be reason enough alone to shut down the courses, but also spelled out the government’s ideological opposition at a news conference.

“The Hungarian government is of the clear view that people are born either men or women. 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,” he said.

Orban’s supporters want a shift towards conservative values to end what they call a dominance of leftists and liberals in the arts, science and education.