WUNRN
CRISIS PUTS EUROPEAN SOCIAL MODEL TO
SERIOUS TEST - WOMEN
Government,
worker and employer representatives from 51 European and Central Asian member
States gather in Oslo to discuss the way forward for the region in the context
of the continuing financial, economic and social crisis.
WUNRN Note: IMPORTANCE OF CONSIDERATION OF GENDER
DIMENSIONS OF POVERTY, UNEMPLOYMENT, RECESSION, AUSTERITY, COMPOUNDED &
PROTRACTED CRISES.
April 8, 2013 OSLO - The 9th
European Regional Meeting of the International Labour Organization
(ILO) opened in Oslo with an urgent call for effective employment and social
policies that can achieve growth and competitiveness with good jobs.
“The crisis in Europe is dramatic. A financial crisis has turned into a jobs
crisis. In some countries there is now a lost generation of young people; out
of a job, out of training and out of the market. More people are becoming
permanently inactive and unemployable,” Norway’s Prime Minister Jens
Stoltenberg said.
“Therefore, we need to implement measures now to avoid a major social crisis
and political backlash. This is the main political challenge we face in Europe
today,” Stoltenberg said.......
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WUNRN
http://www.wunrn.com
European Women's Lobby - EWL
EWL PUBLISHES REPORT ON IMPACT OF
AUSTERITY MEASURES ON EUROPEAN WOMEN'S RIGHTS & GENDER EQUALITY
[
As predicated in the previous joint EWL/Oxfam publication
in 2010, Women’s poverty and social exclusion at a time of recession – An
invisible crisis?, the first ‘wave’ of the crisis was a private sector crisis
which impacted more on the male dominated sectors of the economy (car
industry..), the extension of the crisis to the public sector impacts on women
more.
Based on a survey of EWL member organisations as well as
other sources, the study maps the pattern of the impact of austerity measures
on women and gender equality. Focusing on three areas, namely, cuts in
public sector jobs and wages, cuts in services and benefits and cuts
in funding for women’s rights and gender equality the findings reveal that
the crisis is not a he-cession after all, as the official statistics do not
tell the full story. For example, while women’s unemployment rate is close to
that of men’s, statistics fail to capture the fact that when women become
unemployed they tend to withdraw from the labour-market or as involuntary
part-time workers they are counted as being employed. Cuts in public services
and benefits translate into a care crisis, as reductions in care services, cuts
in child, disability, carers’ benefits and reductions in tax credits, are
translating into the privatisation of care. Cuts in statutory leave, including
parental and paternity leave, are preventing men from taking their share of
care, with the result that women’ real choices to engage in paid work on the
labour market are compromised.
The EWL study questions the long term impact of austerity
measures on women’s rights and gender relations, particularly equality between
women and men. The impact of austerity measures could roll back years of
progress. Women’s employment rate in 22 countries is back to 2005 levels, a far
cry - which will require massive investments – from the EU’s headline target to
reach a 75% employment rate for women and men by 2020. When States fail to
provide public services and reassess their role in income and wealth
distribution, women pay the price. More worryingly gender equality is damaged
as the danger of a return to entrenched traditional gender roles and
expectations put women’s economic independence seriously at risk.
The erosion of gender equality institutional mechanisms
at national level, coupled with reductions in funding to women’s NGOs,
especially those providing vital services, the demand for which is increasing
in times of austerity, impacts on women’s capacity to respond in terms of
service delivery, protection of women’s rights and advocacy. Austerity is
silencing women’s voices.
Recommendations in the study call on Member States to
safeguard vital services use gender impact analysis and gender budgeting tools.
The European Commission must take a leadership role to halt the damage that is
being done in recommending to Member States to reform labour markets and
undertake social welfare reforms which are directly resulting in austerity
measures. Finally, the study urgently invites women’s NGOs to engage in
budgetary processes and to lobby finance ministers.
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Original Message -----
From: WUNRN
ListServe
To: WUNRN ListServe
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2012 10:46 AM
Subject: ILO World of Work Report 2012 - Crisis Impacts on Women
WUNRN
ILO - International Labour
Organization
CONSIDER MAJOR NEGATIVE IMPACTS OF
THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC & JOBS CRISIS ON WOMEN, WOMEN'S WORK, WOMEN'S POVERTY.
ILO World of Work Report 2012
The
ILO launches its annual report “World of Work Report 2012: Better
Jobs for a Better Economy”. The new study examines the
performance of
different countries since the start of the global crisis through the
prism of the quantity and quality of jobs.
Direct Link to Full 128-Page ILO
Report:
Report 10-Page Summary - Also offered in Spanish & French:
ILO Website: http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/books/world-of-work/WCMS_179453/lang--en/index.htm
Women & Youth Are Disproportionately
Affected by Unemployment & Job Precariousness.....
Non-income dimensions of inequality
are on the rise. Additionally,
there are non-income dimensions of inequality that are not reflected in the
data coefficients. These dimensions of global inequality include inequalities
in health, access to education, employment, gender, etc., which, apart from
exacerbating poverty, also lead to greater marginalization within society.
The share of informal employment
remains high, standing at more than 40 per cent in two-thirds of emerging and
developing countries for which data are available.
This Report calls for countries to
put in place the necessary conditions for a dramatic shift in the current
policy approach. It highlights the need for an approach that recognizes the
importance of placing jobs at the top of the policy agenda and the need for
coherence among macroeconomic, employment and social policies. This requires a
significant change in domestic and global governance, which is a complex task.
Though the task is demanding, even progressive steps in this direction will be
rewarded with better job prospects and a more efficient economy.
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