Last weekend there was a conference of Hungarian Career Women at the Parliament here in Budapest. My roommate participated by singing the Hungarian national anthem, another song, and speaking as a member of the arts panel. I went along to support her--she did a great job, and I found the conference to be quite interesting. This picture is of us in the entrance hall to the Parliament (and, no, contrary to what some have thought--and despite the sash--she's not Miss Hungary!).I considered naming this post "American Soap Operas: A Moral Compass?", and you're probably wondering why. Well, since the conference was all in Hungarian, I was just passing the time by counting columns, checking out the various outfits and hairdos, comparing light fixtures....you know. Well, after about 45 minutes, I noticed this little cupboard under the desk in front of me (the conference was in the Parliamentary Assembly Hall) and I opened it up and found an ear piece inside. I put it in my ear and...discovered an English translation! I was kicking myself for not discovering it earlier, but then I became too amazed by what I was hearing to think much about it. I hope I came into the speech at the wrong part or that the translation was just bad, but what I heard was that "we (Hungary) need to look to the values portrayed in American soap operas and return to those values." Boy, was I flabbergasted! Could this guy (a professor of some sort) be serious? First of all, when I hear "soap opera," I certainly don't think "values." Second of all, from what I hear and see and notice, I think that many people in Hungary are already doing a pretty good job of emulating "American soap opera values." He continued on in this same strain for the last 5 minutes of his speech, and he seemed to be saying that American soap operas portrayed women in strong roles, fulfilling both home and career responsibilities effectively, and modeling what women are capable of. Hmmm....the reasoning has too many flaws to even begin listing them, but I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that the translation was off, and he really wasn't referring to soap operas!
I want to just make one more serious comment on the conference, though. I didn't stay for long (about 2 hours) and I didn't understand 1/2 of what I was there for, but from what I heard and read in the English program I had, I found the entire event to be very sad and, frankly, possibly more destructive than helpful to the "cause" of all women. Women were hearing that they can do everything, have it all--family, career, community service, etc. No mention that something would have to give. I didn't see any panelists on the program who were mothers and homemakers by profession, but there were plenty of ambassadors, congresswomen, CEOs, musicians, etc. It was almost as if the message was that women not only can do more, but that they will be valued in society more if they do more. "Traditional" roles of wife and mother were things that could be had on the side, rather than valued as central to a woman's life. Perhaps I'm being too harsh and judging something that I didn't even see (okay...the second part of that is definitely true), but that was the impression I got and it makes me sad that women around the world are getting the message that they need to "have it all" according to the world's standards.
