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Our next speaker also broke taboos and held a mirror up to society
when she started to deal with the question of gender equality.
In those years this term had a strong negative connotation
and she had to endure many attacks for standing up for this case.
Today we only have very brave women - and men - on the stage,
so as you can expect, Zsuzsa Kádár kept her end up,
and she says that the last 30 years of experience proved to her
that if someone really believes in her goals,
she can be successful in any field even as a woman.
Zsuzsa Kádár is a well-known expert in gender studies, and a feminist,
and though her degree is in chemical engineering,
she dealt with gender equality in the field of
chemical and energy industry - and not only in theory.
She initiated a procedure against a discriminative job offer,
and the verdict in this case set a precedent that found its way
even into EU legislation. Ladies and gentlemen,
please welcome on the stage Zsuzsa Kádár!
(Applause)
(Music)
(Music)
Good afternoon, everyone!
I am so nervous.
Believe or not, I have spoken in more than 100 lectures,
conferences and seminars,
but always about a pre-defined topic.
Gender equality on the labour market,
generation gaps, stress at the workplace,
illnesses, female workers.
And now the organisers asked me to talk about my life.
It seems I got to the point when I'm revered for my age.
(Laughter)
I stood in front of my mirror and looked into it,
then said to myself: No. This is not me.
There's someone living with me in this flat,
who looks like me
but has each part 20 cms lower. (Laguhter)
Now either I accept myself as I am, or I run to get a face lift.
Then I heard a voice inside me: you have a mirror inside, too.
Do you believe in it? Because if you do,
then you'll project what you see in that.
That is how I see myself. (Laughter)
This reminds me of a story.
In the nineties I worked
in a large European Federation of Trade Unions
as president of women in the organization.
It had about 800 000 female members.
I organized conferences and seminars for them,
and represented them at congresses.
Imagine a large congress room. There are 1000 people in it,
men and women in equal numbers, that is 900 men and 100 women.
(Laughter)
This is equality in Europe.
It is 7 pm, men already have one foot in the bar to have an aperitif,
and then it is announced that there will be
a presentation about women. (Laughter)
This was my welcome on stage, I had 10 minutes to speak.
Do you know why I could talk for 10 minutes?
Because the men for 8 minutes
were only checking out my hairstyle, my figure,
my suit and my ***,
and only in the last 2 minutes they paid attention to what I was saying.
Today I could only speak for 2 minutes. (Laughter)
Thank God, my mother still lives,
she is 89, and always tells me:
"Never be ashamed of your age!"
And that reminds me of another story. I have worked quite a lot with the young.
You know how a seminar with young people goes.
Everyone introduces themselves, who they are, what they do,
where they come from, how old they are.
I was invited to this international seminar,
they started introducing themselves: I am X.Y., 21 years old, coming from here.
I am Q.Z., 23 years, coming from there.
After everyone introduced themselves, it was my turn to say something
and I saw the question in their eyes:
"Just how old are you?"
I answered:
"In Hungary a woman has three ages.
Do you know why?
She is 25, because she is a beautiful girl.
Then she is 35, as she is a mature woman.
After that, she is intelligent.
Now, I am a very-very intelligent woman.
(Laughter) (Applause)
It took them a bit longer to get it, but they burst out laughing
and after that I held my lecture. In the evening the organiser called me
and said: you know that all afternoon they kept talking about you, saying,
"You know, when that intelligent woman said...!"
(Laughter)
I've learnt in life we have to stand up for ourselves.
No one else will do that for us.
If we can, we have to stand up for others, too.
Believe me, you can make a difference.
In the '90s, just after the system change, lots of discriminative job offers appeared
in Hungary, such as: "looking for a 25-year-old
blond woman, free also at weekends, as secretary"
or: "young independent girls are needed for work only at weekends"
There was another one, by a multinational that said:
"we are looking for a 35-year-old man
with a university degree, good organisational skills,
good level of French and a driving license to work as an assistant."
I was astounded.
This offer was discriminative in at least two ways:
both age- and gender-wise.
I met almost all requirements as I have a university degree,
I am not bad at organizing, I speak good French
and also have a driving license. Well, I'm not a man, nor were I 35 then.
I called the company, introduced myself and said I wanted to apply to that job.
After a long silence, he said: "But you're a woman!" (Laughter)
I said, "Yes, but I do meet the requirements" and I started to tell him, but he kept saying
"But you're a woman, you're a woman" then hung up. I was absolutely outraged.
I had a good job, didn't even think about quitting,
but I was so outraged that we brought a lawsuit
that would be the first Hungarian test case on discrimination.
We won the case; it is now in the collection
of the European Court of Justice. (Applause)
I would like to tell another story about how women can enter fields
where only men work.
This is not my story, my Spanish colleagues told me
that in the '90s, when the mines of Northern Spain were all being closed down,
when whole villages remained without work not only miners, but their families, too,
the Spanish government decided to open courses
for ex-miners and train them as truck drivers.
Not like in Hungary, where miners were offered to work as nurses.
At the beginning of these courses, the organisers were surprised to find
women among the participants.
At first they didn't know what to do,
then they thought, "Alright, let's permit
a couple of women participate, we'll see."
The course lasted 8 months, it was quite hard
and was followed by a difficult exam.
Men were employed immediately afterwards,
women had a 3-month probation, of course.
The results were surprising.
Women drove more safely, did not cause accidents
and consumed less fuel. Do you know why?
They didn't want to compete on the highway and kept each and every rule.
Believe me, the next time it wasn't a question
whether to admit women to the course or not.
I'd like to finish my speech with a family story:
my son is a lawyer.
In his first year at university
he had to submit a paper on a freely chosen subject.
He chose "Equal opportunities for female workers".
At the exam, his professor was leafing through his paper
then looked up and said: "Are you not a girl?"
(Laughter) "Only girls choose such a topic!"
My son answered: "Professor, sir, as you can see, I'm a boy.
My mother deals with gender equality,
I must have been infected by her.
But, you know, I have become quite interested in this issue."
(Laughter)
My point is: stand up for yourselves. Believe me, it leads to success.
And we should believe our inner mirror: we project what we feel inside.
For this we need good health and long life.
That is what I wish for all of you. Thank you.
(Applause)