Jill RuberyManchester Business School

From He-cession to She-(au)sterity Resisting marginalisation Maintaining visibility and legitimation Preserving the public space Future for gender equality

Initial recession hit male employment- concentrated in manufacturing and construction

Employment protection partially provided by public expenditure- continuing increases in health and education

Reduction in gender gaps through levelling down

Employment rate E27

Men Women

2008 72.7 70.1

2011 58.9 58.5

Gender gap 13.6 11.6

Unemployment rate E27

2008 6.7 9.6

2011 7.6 9.8

Gender gap -0.9 -0.2

Unemployment_rates_by_gender,_EU,_seasonally_adjusted,

1) Women’s employment losses need to be considered in context of need to ‘catch up’ with men - should be considered against trends not just in absolute terms

2) The levelling down process may be reinforcing the flexibilisation of the labour market- women’s poor quality job standards becoming the norm for some men as well as women.

3) The switch to austerity policies makes it almost certain that women will suffer most in the current/next phase- unless the indirect impact on the private sector is even greater.

Figure 2 EU27 employment rates for 20-64 age group, 2005-2010 (%)

Source: Eurostat 2010Smith and Villa 2012

55,00

60,00

65,00

70,00

75,00

80,00

85,00

em

plo

ym

en

t r

ates (

20-64yrs)

total male female

Employment Working Conditions

Employment quantity

High female % and medium to high concentration of women in public sector

Work life balance options (regular or employee friendly work) facilitate employment continuity

Employment quality

Access to higher quality jobs- high concentration of women graduates in public sector

Pay and pension premia especially for lower skilled (i.e. compared to discrimination in private sector)

Importance of public sector for gender equality

Public sector adjustment impacts on women through:

Wage cuts and freezes Job cuts/ freezes Outsourcing Reductions in services Reductions in benefits- lone mothers/

child support

Limited evidence of voluntary withdrawal of women

Rise in female headed households ( whether planned or unplanned)

High level of open unemployment where previously more hidden (UK)

Major rise in involuntary part-time work

 

Women’s non marginal contribution to household income makes back to the home policy often not feasible

Women’s independent attachment to the labour market especially among higher educated makes them less of a reserve army.

Need for state support for parents will not disappear- for example policy of forcing lone parents into work undermined by lack of jobs and need for care provision.

Visibility Gender equality has been removed from

central status in EU employment strategy- reappearance in piecemeal fashion

Dismantling of equality institutions and equality budgets in some countries – e.g. Ireland, Spain, UK

Three priorities plus enhanced economic governance Smart Growth - an economy based on knowledge and innovation Sustainable Development - a low carbon economy Inclusive Growth - high employment, acquisition of skills, fight poverty

and exclusion

Ten Guidelines Four mention gender but rest gender blind Four on employment (no mention of gender in education and training

systems)

Seven Flagship Policies None focused on gender All with no evidence of gender mainstreaming and only the (delayed)

European Platform against Poverty recognised greater risks for women

Eight Targets Four on employment One mentions women but no separate targets (75% employment rate

“for women and men”)

Legitimation of gender equality policy challenged by arguments that

Recession is only a he-cession Equality is a luxury good Targeted help for households through means-

testing has to replace individual rights under austerity

Prospects for success may depend upon   Embeddedness of equality norms in society Embeddedness of female participation norm in

family economy Whether emergent equality gender ideology has

replaced or coexists with conservative gender ideology

Importance of public space for gender equality Space for alternative society values-

(human and social investment) Alternative to female unpaid domestic

labour ( limited evidence of male unpaid domestic labour as substitute)

Source of support for women in comparison to private sector (discriminatory wages, male patterns of working time etc)

 

How to maintain the public space when the government is

shrinking the size eroding the quality and blurring boundaries of public/private

space- That is, the state may be moving from

promoter to underminer of gender equality.

Optimistic scenario Stalled progress- then back to gradual move upward to

equalityPessimistic scenario Critical juncture involving for example: Reversal of normalisation of adult worker model- pressure

on women to return to the home Generalisation of flexible labour market- equality through

levelling down Increasing variation among women (more inactivity, more

flexible, and more effective competition for top jobs) Reinforcement of country differences (dependent on

equality norms) or erosion ( through decreasing scope for welfare state )

Outcome unclear but progress can no longer be assumed and reversal of gains likely to be both resisted and uneven.