Southern European Women and the Economic Crisis – Assessing Problems, Policies, and Practices (2009-2014)

In the last five years Southern European countries are facing an immense economic crisis which has led to many changes in the economic, political and institutional fields. Although the crisis affects men and women, austerity driven measures that have been been adopted to alleviate the crisis have had a strong impact on women. Important structural changes were made to the labour market, to collective bargaining, and retirement pensions. Social and health benefits that were previously given to women in order to assist them, have been drastically reduced. A recent Eurobarometer poll shows that women perceive more than men that the economic crisis has led to an increase in the pay gap, to more violence towards’ women, and to more job insecurity. In this paper, I explore the questions: Have Southern European governments tried to enhance women’s position in the labour market and society in order to mitigate the effects of the economic crisis? Which social movement organizations or political groups have voiced women’s concerns on these issues? How are these issues framed by parliamentary members and by the media (diagnosis and prognosis frames)? I mobilize several sources of data, including a content analysis of parliamentary debates, press releases, newspaper articles, women’s state agencies’ documents, and a few in-depth interviews with leaders of key women’s movement organizations. Findings show that it is mostly women’s state agencies and activists that have inserted issues of gender equality and women’s empowerment into the narrative being constructed about the effects of the economic crisis.