ABSTRACT
On January 29, 1967, the Hungarian government introduced one of the most enlightened measures of social welfare: it instituted a young mothers' leave, which entitled every young mother to receive 600 forints per month for the duration of the period extending from the birth of the child to the age of two-and-a-half. Main consideration in the creation of the young mothers' leave stems from the alteration of at least one aspect of the traditional family patterns that have so long dictated Hungarian life. But for those women who were career-oriented, whose professions were every bit as important to them as to their male counterparts, a maternity leave spelled disaster. Conversely, however, for women with lower wages, the young mothers' leave has turned out to be a boon. The young mothers' leave has also created problems that are rarely mentioned in the literature on women.
