Technikatörténeti szemle 23. (1997-98)
TANULMÁNYOK - Vámos Éva Katalin: Women’s Opportunities of Studying and Practising Engineering in Hungary from 1895 to 1968 (On the example of Budapest Technical University and its women students)
ÉVA KATALIN VÁMOS * WOMEN'S OPPORTUNITIES OF STUDYING AND PRACTISING ENGINEERING IN HUNGARY FROM 1895 TO 1968 (On the example of Budapest Technical University and its women students) The opening of opportunities, for women in Hungary, to practise engineering was a slowly progressing procedure, in contrast to studies of sciences and to scientific careers. The latter were accessible nearly simultaneously with, and at a similar rate as, in most of the rest of European countries. The history of the opening possibilities, for women, to study and practise engineering professions was a slower process and more difficult for Hungarian women than women in many other countries of Europe. Opening of university studies to women in Hungary (Legal regulations and struggles for their easing) Women's university studies in Hungary were first granted by the Royal Resolution of November 18,1895. It allowed women to carry on university stud-ies of philosophy, pharmacy and medicine. According to the Resolution every woman wishing to carry on university studies had to submit an application to that effect to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education. The certificate of the final exam of secondary school was a basic requirement. More than 50 years had to elapse since the first debates related to the problem (the debates in the journal Tudományos Gyűjtemény/Scientific Review in 1830) till the resolution mentioned was adopted, and another fifty years had to pass until all university faculties (except theology) were opened to women. 1 Contemporary sources reveal that the question of permitting women to study nurtured male fears of female competition. In 1905, the daily paper "Az Újság" (The Newspaper) asked people of influence about women's studies at the Faculty of Law and at the Technical University. The basic problem was quite clearly formulated by the President of the Chamber of Lawyers: "... I do "Hungarian Museum of Science and Technology, 1117 Budapest, Kaposvar u. 13-15.
