Viktor Orbán’s authoritarian rule over Hungary was embraced by tech titans and far-right leaders ranging from Vladimir Putin to J.D Vance and Tony Abbott.
But after 16 years, that rule came to an end last weekend, when Orbán conceded defeat to Peter Magyar’s Tisza party, which won a two-thirds majority of the vote in Hungary’s general election.
This was not only a remarkable moment for Hungary, but it has also sparked hope for people globally, especially for women, given the damage authoritarian leaders like Orbán and those who seek inspiration from him are inflicting on women’s rights and opportunities.
To be clear, Magyar is a centre-right candidate and far from progressive. But he managed to nab the centre voters and much of the left, and to do the once-unthinkable: break the chains of Orban’s rule, who has spent the past 16 years capturing the media, the court, the prosecutors’ office and more.
Orbán’s record on women includes banning gender studies from Hungarian universities and framing “gender ideology” as a national threat. Women in politics who opposed or criticised him were accused of being “foreign agents”. He ordered mandatory counselling on abortion and new laws that women had to listen to “foetal vital signs” when seeking abortions. In 2022, a Hungarian Government report argued that educated Hungarian women threaten the country’s birth rate.
Since 2010, no women’s rights organisations have received funding from Orbán’s government. And when a journalist asked in 2015 (the same year that the Canadian government announced a gender balanced cabinet) why there were no women in his government, Orbán responded that women can’t handle the stress of Hungarian politics. When the Council of Europe’s treaty on ending domestic violence was set to be ratified, Orbán refused to sign it because of the word “gender”.
It’s no surprise that Hungary sits second-last on the European Institute for Gender Equality’s index, nor is it a surprise that academics have described what Orbán has built during his time in power as an “anti-liberal gender regime”.
Part of the authoritarian playbook that’s been seen in Hungary and copied elsewhere, including in the United States and Poland, is to frame feminists and queer people as enemies of the state, pushing populations to direct their grievances and economic anger at those seeking more progressive rights. Hungary has been exporting this model, especially via the CPAC conferences, which Orbán has hosted and at which Australians like Tony Abbott have enthusiastically participated in (Abbott has also described Orbán as Hungary’s “greatest modern leader”).
We’ve been seeing a “backsliding” of women’s rights globally in recent years. Attacks on women’s rights are a primary mechanism of authoritarianism, rather than just a side-effect, something Orban hasn’t only been demonstrating but also actively spreading elsewhere.
As we look at what’s happening in the United States under Trump, and also what’s happening in Australia with the rise of populist movements – including here this week as the Coalition launched a hardline migration policy featuring throwbacks to the White Australia policy – I’m finally feeling a strong sense of hope regarding the potential for change.
So take a moment to enjoy what happened in a small European country last weekend.
It was beautiful to see thousands of people taking to the streets of Budapest, chanting “two-thirds” as they marked the significant majority who voted against Orbán. They were energetic and inspiring in their singing and dancing, demonstrating that a new dawn for democracy is possible. With gender equality and democracy interlinked — and authoritarian rule causing havoc on women’s rights — the defeat of an authoritarian poster child marks a turning point for women and girls globally.