Hungary Retaliates for German Mobile Firm's Stance Against Sexism

By Margit Feher

BUDAPEST--Hungary's government will cancel mobile Internet contracts with the local arm of German telecommunications firm Deutsche Telekom AG after the company ended a sponsorship agreement with a local pop musician who said women should focus on having children instead of careers.

Akos Kovacs, a Hungarian pop musician, said in a private television interview earlier this week that "it's not women's job to make as much money as men do. Their job is to fulfill the female principium; to belong to somebody, to bear children for someone, to be a mother."

Mr. Kovacs, whose concerts have also been sponsored from state coffers and who has received a top state award in 2012 for his outstanding achievement in his field of art, also said that those female duties make it impossible for a woman to combine the roles of a high-paid top executive and a dutiful mother.

In reaction to the singer's comments, Magyar Telekom Nyrt., Hungary's leading telecom provider, ended its sponsorship agreement with the artist on Wednesday, saying its corporate values contradict those of the singer.

"Magyar Telekom is committed to ensuring equal work conditions and carrier opportunities to both men and women and maintaining gender equality at all costs. It also promotes programs that dismantle social and gender inequalities in the labor market," Magyar Telekom said in a statement to local online news agency Index.

János Lázár, who heads the prime minister's office, condemned the firm for its step at a news briefing.

"This is a terror of opinion that Telekom allows itself. A German company in particular should be aware of what a dictatorship is," Mr. Lázár said.

It isn't acceptable that someone should be discriminated against because of their opinion, government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs told state news agency MTI Thursday, referring to the singer.

It wasn't clear immediately how many subscriptions the government cancellation will affect. Magyar Telekom didn't immediate respond to the government's move.

Write to Margit Feher at margit.feher@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 17, 2015 14:01 ET (19:01 GMT)

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