WUNRN
Economic Stimulus
Packages Must Factor in Differentiated Impact on Women Hardest Hit by the
Financial Crisis, Says New UNIFEM Assessment
24 June 2009
Government plans need to reflect women’s realities as workers and shock absorbers of society to be truly effective
United Nations, New York — Economic stimulus packages are not just quick-fixes but an opportunity to reform economic policies and make them more responsive to gender needs, says a new assessment by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) ahead of a UN summit of global leaders on the impact of the financial crisis starting at UN Headquarters today.
About 70 percent of the world’s poor are women and they are often the worst hit during times of economic recession. The impact of the present economic slump is already evident in women’s lives: curtailing employment options; imposing additional burden of unpaid care work on women and girls as governments cut spending on public services; and jeopardizing health and personal security.
The UNIFEM rapid assessment study analyses stimulus packages in ten Asia-Pacific countries, including China and India. The region’s economy is being deeply impacted by falling exports, reversals in domestic and foreign migration, tight credit markets and fiscal budgets. The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) estimates that in 2009, 24 million people in Asia are in danger of losing their jobs, with women and the youth showing greater vulnerability.
Women in the Asia-Pacific region constitute the majority of temporary and low-skilled workers. They are considered a flexible workforce and are easily discarded during economic downturns, often without any formal unemployment insurance or social protection. The study highlights that the fall in export trade is expected to disproportionately affect women workers in countries like Bangladesh, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, where they make up the bulk of the workforce in industries such as in garments, textiles and electronics. Women are also more likely to be laid-off because of the pre-existing male bread-winner bias, which often ensures that male workers manage to retain their jobs because they are considered the primary providers for their families — as was evident during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.
A large majority of women migrant workers come from this region and the crisis has led to a steep decline in demand for migrant labour, leading to massive reversals in migration. Millions of migrant workers are being forced to return home, and remittances are drying up as companies face closure and more countries tighten controls on immigration policies. For example, the United Kingdom has introduced a points-based system that favors high-skilled migrants and in the United States the stimulus package makes it harder for firms to hire foreign workers. In developing countries too, restrictions on the entry of legal migrants are being placed.
The credit squeeze could hurt microfinance lending in South Asia, which accounts for more than 50 percent of global demand for microfinance, with women being majority of the clients. With tighter credit markets, commercial institutions can scale back lending to microfinance schemes, which directly impacts South Asian women who rely on these loans for home-based enterprises, which often ensures children’s education, health and basic needs, such as sanitation and clean water.
The report recommends that economic stimulus packages need to reflect these gender-based realities and respond with gendered policies. The study evaluates the benefits from increased social spending on health, education and basic sanitation — like those announced in the stimulus packages of the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, China, the Philippines and Thailand — which will benefit women and reduce pressure on them to take on unpaid work. However, this beneficial impact can be reversed if these programs are discontinued after the crisis. In areas of fiscal spending, serious gaps remain as most of the funds is directed towards infrastructure and public works, which are predominantly male. Stimulus measures focusing solely on the formal sector also fail to respond to the needs of women, who are the vast majority of workers in the informal sector.
Key findings and recommendations include:
- If seen as a development instruments and not just
short-term response to the crisis, stimulus packages can make far-reaching
changes in macroeconomic policy and expenditure frameworks to ensure that
women’s contributions to economic recovery and future growth are fully
harnessed, and gender outcomes are achieved.
- New or increased spending on social protection schemes
needs to be directed towards reaching women in the informal sector and
supporting female migrant workers who have been displaced.
- Stimulus measures aimed at firms should also target sectors
where women make up a good proportion of the labour force, such as export
manufacturing.
- Social protection mechanisms could be linked to
training and enterprise development, to ensure that social protection
contributes to growth.
The rapid assessment report will be presented at the joint UNIFEM-UNESCAP event Making Economic Stimulus Packages Work for Women on 24 June during the UN Summit. For more information, click here.
================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to:
wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com. Thank you.