ABSTRACT
In the past, women have been used as soldiers and activists, only to be pushed back later into their “traditional places.” When power was redistributed in times of transition, women also took their place in the queue, but it turned out that there was nothing for sale. And after each of the transitions in Hungary—in 1918, 1945, and 1989—the same questions were raised: Why are women so weak in the field of politics? Why are they so tragically and continuously underrepresented in politics? 1 Political scientists often use the red carpet as a symbol for Communism, saying that it covered the whole society and masked its heterogeneity. After the collapse of Communism, the red carpet was rolled back and, surprisingly, what has been found is what was previously there. If we want to examine the roots of the so-called underrepresentation of women in politics, we should briefly explore the case study of Hungary.
