Open Letter To the Prime Minister of Hungary

To the Prime Minister of Hungary, Mr. Viktor Orbán,

We have been informed that a proposed government decree enacted without previous consultation with the interested parties have been sent out ordering the closure of the teaching of gender studies in your country. We understand that those already enrolled at MA programs may finish their degree but no new courses would be allowed.

We stand in solidarity with the network of university teachers in Hungary against banning the gender studies program. Our understanding of the legal and real autonomy of higher education excludes such measures. We see the banning of gender studies programs a major attack on academic freedom that affects gender studies as a whole because the study of gender in society is a world-wide as and valid scientific discipline.

As a network of close to fifty gender scholars from eighteen countries across Europe, we urge the Hungarian government to withdraw the decree and let the vital scholarship within gender studies— and thereby academic freedom— thrive.

Regards//Researchers and university teachers of the FEMACT network through Forum for Gender Studies, Mid Sweden University, Sweden.