The Yettel Hungary Ltd. and the Neumann János Faculty of Informatics at Óbuda University have jointly announced a scholarship program for female university students with the aim of making IT and engineering fields more attractive to women.
Based on a nationally representative survey commissioned by Yettel, it was revealed that every other Hungarian believes it is easier for men to succeed in the labor market, and more than a quarter of respondents think that women regularly face negative prejudices at their workplaces. The Yettel study explored the gender stereotypes that Hungarians may encounter in their work.
Women who filled out the questionnaire indicated that they regularly encounter negative stereotypes related to their appearance (36%), personality (33%), intellectual abilities (36%), or parental roles (36%). Overall, it can be said that younger individuals (18-35 years old) feel that women regularly face such prejudices in their work environment.
Both genders face challenges in the labor market, but female employees seem to encounter more obstacles: 59% of them have felt the expectation to always be kind and understanding, compared to only 31% of men. A significantly higher percentage of women received comments about their appearance, technical skills, or were made to feel that their gender hinders their understanding of certain things. Interestingly, only 38% of respondents would speak up if a colleague faced negative prejudices, whereas 60% would respond firmly if it involved a friend or family member.
The study also revealed that every second woman has experienced being considered less relevant due to her gender, and many reported not being deemed suitable for a position (44%) or feeling that they couldn’t perform a task as well as the opposite gender representative (41%).
Six out of ten employees believe that their current workplace could do more to achieve gender equality. Respondents suggested improvements such as equal pay for men and women and measures like providing equal maternity and paternity leave.
In celebration of International Women’s Day, Yettel announced a scholarship program in collaboration with the Neumann János Faculty of Informatics at Óbuda University. The goal of the program is to make mobile technology and technical fields more appealing to young women.
The total budget for the scholarship program is 5 million Hungarian forints per year, with 4 students being awarded each semester. A professional jury, appointed by Yettel and the university, will select the winners from the applicants. With the help of the scholarship, students will contribute to the realization of a scientific project related to an existing IT or engineering field. Yettel will also provide professional consultations with their experts during the research period and after graduation. The program will be launched as a pilot project in the first year, with decisions about its continuation based on the evaluation of results.
