WUNRN
Greece – From Early to Protracted Crisis –
Feelings-Based Analysis - Gender
By Lois Woestman
Woestman provided in 2012 analysis of some of the
gender dynamics in Greece in what have turned
out to be the early days of the crisis. Now in 2015
she returns to this analysis and finds that the
enduring crisis coupled with forced neo-liberal
economic reforms have caused an overall feeling of
depression and burn outto break loose.”
Introduction
In a 2012 WIDE+ Newsletter1, I presented an analysis of some of the gender dynamics in Greece
in what have turned out to be the early days of the crisis. These
included the gender labor gap in
Greece having shrunk during the early days of the crisis, as men's
positions worsened even more
than women's – but was highly differentiated by sector. I also
noted that women's unpaid work
loads were increasing, as public sector services were cut, and
that they were being pressured to
return to being “only housewives” to leave jobs to the men.
Discussion on further development in
these trends between 2012 and 2013 can be found in Karamessini and
Rubery (2013).2 I
also
noted that gender based violence was on the rise, a point
developed further since by Svarna in her
2014 piece.
In 2012, I also discussed the rapidly increasing implementation of
the neoclassical economic
model in Europe that WIDE(+) has been critiquing since its
inception, and within which the
above-noted gender dynamics are embedded. I noted the widening
core-periphery divide in
Europe, as the neoclassical core enforced harsher neoclassical
economic “recovery” programmes
on the periphery than they had undertaken at home. I also talked
about the way politicians were
whipping up national stereotypes to deflect attention and blame
from themselves as well as to
prevent potential resistance alliances across countries.
Many of the “periphery” countries that have undertaken such
“transitions” in the last years -
Eastern European as well as southern - are currently ruled by
conservative governments, afraid
of the growing resistance within their own countries. Many have
joined the “core” alliance, and in
the national stereotyping which has perhaps been at its strongest
in the maligning of Greeks –
who elected a socialist government in January - as lazy, cheating,
malcontents.
Little could I imagine in 2012 just how damaging the psychological
as well as economic effects of
the confluence of these broader developments could be in Greece
three years down the line. In
2012, I had mentioned that the suicide rate that had risen 35%
between 2010 and 2012,
especially among men who had lost their jobs.
Now, I would like to share with you my reflections on the emerging
“structure of feeling” - a term
coined by Raymond Williams to talk about “a social experience in
solution,” something that feels
as definite as a structure but is created through accumulation of
intangible day to day experiences4
- in Greece after the great majority of its citizens voted no to
more austerity, but its government
was forced by the conservative block to sign up for more as a
condition for Greece to receive
further financial assistance and remain in the eurozone. My talks
with people in Athens and on
the island of Kythera – most of whom are either professionals,
skilled or semi-skilled workers -
have not demonstrated gender-differentiated analyses or dynamics
in this process. Rather, what I
have observed is a generalized sense of – though I am no
psychologist – what I believe could be
called burn out-induced depression.
Exhaustion
It is August 15th. The third MOU in as many years was approved yesterday by the
Greek
parliament and the Eurogroup – the unelected European finance
ministers group to which most
European political leaders have advocated their power. In
antithesis to the past six months, hardy
anyone I have met in the last weeks Athens or on Kythera island is
talking about it.
People are simply exhausted. The constant hyper-tension since
“re-negotiations” of the last
memorandum of understanding (MOU) began in February under the
Syriza government, following
on five years of ever worsening economic depression, have taken
their toll. My friends appear to
have been put through old washing machine wringers. Their vivacity
zapped, most people walk
around like zombies, with intermittent outbursts of irritation.
Withdrawal
People are also emotionally withdrawn. Unlike past reunions, which
would go on for hours – all
night - my friends manage about two hours, before they say
something like: “Lois, I am really
happy to see you. But, sorry. I need to lie down. I just don't
have any more energy to talk.” Some
had to cancel jointly made vacation plans, explaining that the
most they could manage
emotionally was to get to their nuclear families, where they could
collapse. No energy for
vacation? Greeks? My friends?
Most people I have spoke with have little if any money for
vacation, anyway. Mid-August is
traditionally the busiest time of year for tourism in Greece.
Athens empties out. Greeks I have
spoken to who have the wherewithal for a holiday have had to pare
it down to just a few days – a
week at most. They can afford to eat once a day, managing coffees
etc. in their rooms.
Tourist business owners on Kythera explained that, in addition to
very limited Greek tourism,
foreign tourism has dropped radically. It was a fairly normal
season in May and June. But as soon
as the capital controls hit, foreign tourists practically ceased
coming. July was dead, the first two
August weeks nothing like the packed crowds of former years. One
of the few remaining sources
of income for Greeks has thus been drastically reduced this year.
In Athens,where most of its residents have remained, people travel
to beaches reachable by public
transport: “In this way, we can take a break by the sea, and
pretend we have gone on vacation.”
Humiliation and Hopelessness
After the rough treatment of PM Tsipras in the post-oxi
“negotiations” with creditors, people I
have spoken with feel humiliated. They are convinced that it will
only get worse, as there are no
mechanisms in place for economic recovery anywhere down the line
in their lifetimes. Most
serious reviewers of the newest MOU agree. Is it any wonder, then,
that people are disaffected,
experiencing the finalization of the third memorandum as
anti-climactic? An older gentleman told
me: “Now that Tsipras had to cave in to more austerity and
micro-management of our economy -
who are they to tell us about the size of our bread, and force
people to work on Sundays when
even they do not? - to keep us in the Euro, what is the point of
following debates anymore? All
hope and any chance of retaining a bit of personal and national
pride is lost.”
Resourcelessness
This assessment of some of the burn out, or depression, aspects I
see in Greece today are backed
up by statistics, which show that depression as well as suicides
rates have been on the rise in
Greece since the Great Economic Depression here began. Depression
rates have risen from
around 3% to 8%. Individuals are not accustomed to diagnosing or
dealing with such a
phenomenon, either in themselves nor in loved ones. As one
interviewee put it, “Greeks tended to
yell, not let themselves go to hell.” Now, many people have passed
the stage where they can yell.
And even when they do – as in the overwhelming oxi vote to more
austerity – it appears to have
no positive effect on the outcome. Nor is the medical system
equipped to help out. Even before
the crisis, pyschotherapy was something only the well enough to do
could afford, because it has
not been covered by the health care system.
In a context in which mostly unemployed men are the ones who
commit suicide – I believe
because of cultural expectations that they be the main
breadwinners - one could speculate that
perhaps women are doing most of the emotional work of trying to
keep up moral. This, however,
is not something I have seen from my brief stay here. In the
limited sample of people I speak with,
women appear equally affected. What processes can women or men
refer to keep up moral?
One commentator on the current economic moment in Greece used the
phrase: “Well, to use a
technical term, all hell is going to break loose.”5 A pyschologist I spoke with
used essentially the
same phrase to talk about the portending psychological effects of it for others - and for himself.