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The economic crisis continues to affect many women and
men living in poverty. But how these effects are felt depends, to a large
extent, on their relationships with the people and institutions with whom they
interact. These relationships are profoundly different for women and men.
Unemployment hits poor families hard, regardless of
whether it is a man or woman who is laid off. But the chances of a family
recovering from this setback is shaped by the different levels of bargaining
power that women and men have in the labour market, and their different
responsibilities at home. The gender inequalities and power imbalances that
predate the current crisis have resulted in its additional afflictions falling
disproportionately on those who are already structurally disempowered and
marginalised.
Although often
labelled ‘coping strategies’, the means women find to respond to crises are
frequently unsustainable, and are more appropriately conceived of as
‘desperation measures’. Pre-existing inequalities, which include
under-representation of women at all levels of economic decision making and
their over-representation in informal, vulnerable, and casual employment, are
often more significant than gender inequalities arising specifically from the
crisis.
This paper
summarises the issues raised during a workshop of
development and gender practitioners and academics, convened in September 2009,
by Gender & Development journal and Oxfam.
To read this
paper and other Oxfam publications on the crisis visit: www.oxfam.org.uk/economiccrisis
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