Hungary-EU Asks to Erase “Motherhood” at UN, Wants Gender-Ideology Term “Parenthood”

By | March 6, 2025

NEW YORK (C-Fam) Diplomats from Hungary asked member states to erase a reference to “motherhood” in UN negotiations for a declaration about women’s rights. They asked to use the gender neutral term “parenthood” instead. It is not clear to what degree Hungary spoke on its own behalf or on behalf of the other 26 EU member states or the EU bureaucracy.

Multiple sources close to the negotiations confirmed that Hungary’s diplomats, acting on behalf of the European Union, spoke against having a mention of motherhood in a declaration to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1995 Fourth International Conference on Women held in Beijing.

Hungarian diplomats denied this in an anonymous email to the Friday Fax this morning. The email said that the EU supported the language on motherhood as well as language against discrimination on the basis of maternity.

The conflicting accounts of Hungary’s position in the negotiation may come down to Hungarian diplomats having to represent their country, and at other times speak on behalf of the European Union.

The declaration is expected to be adopted next week on the first day of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. It does not mention motherhood or even maternal health even once, even though the 1995 agreement has several paragraphs devoted to social importance of motherhood and women’s role in the family. It only mentions discrimination on the basis of maternity once.

One surprised African diplomat told the Friday Fax that adopting a ten-page political declaration about women without a single mention of motherhood showed a lack of respect to mothers, and the diplomats’ own mothers in particular.

Other diplomats, who spoke to the Friday Fax on condition of anonymity, called Hungary’s explanation of the EU position “convoluted.” The Hungarians claimed that mentioning motherhood in the declaration would discriminate against widowed stepmothers.

Rejecting the very concept of “motherhood” is part of the European Union’s campaign to promote gender ideology and so-called “rainbow families.” Consistent with this, the European Union also asked the UN membership to recognize “women in all their diversity,” a code-word for transgender-identifying individuals.

The EU has justified its position against motherhood on grounds that are widely seen as pretextual. Sometimes they argue that mentioning mothers discriminated against women who are not mothers. At other times they claim that motherhood language promotes gender stereotypes about women as mothers. But their intention was always clear to all; to erase all sex-specific language about mothers and fathers in public policy, as is the case in the official document systems of many Western countries.

The elimination of sex-specific categories is a central goal of gender ideology. It is key to the claim that gender identity is a mere social construct divorced from biology and that individuals can chose their gender. It supports the notion that also “transgender men” can get pregnant and have children. And it promotes the contention that a child can have two homosexual parents, thereby supporting so-called “rainbow families.”

Hungary is one of the world’s leaders when it comes to policies to encourage and recognize the social significance of motherhood. Last month Hungary’s government adopted a new policy making young mothers exempt from paying income tax for life. Their official diplomacy at the United Nations, however, is still aligned with the EU bureaucracy by default, creating inconsistent results. As one of twenty-seven EU member states, Hungary is regularly called upon to deliver EU positions against the traditional family and in favor of gender ideology.

 

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