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The impact of European Union austerity policy on women's work in Southern Europe

Author

Listed:
  • Lina Gálvez-Muñoz 1
  • Paula Rodríguez-Modroño
  • Tindara Addabbo
Abstract
Contrary to consolidated economic theory principles, in Europe (but also in other world regions), austerity policy has been implemented instead of stimulus measures which have proven to be successful in crisis associated with credit crunch and insufficient demand. These policies cannot be only considered as an "austericide" due to ideological blindness. They also need to be considered as a strategy for imposing an economic and social reform which proved too difficult to be implemented in the years previous to the great recession. The ongoing fiscal contraction policies include the typical adjustment measures which are now driving the European economy towards a new type of insertion within the international economy. And as a consequence, they imply deep changes on the gender division of work deepening gender inequality. This article analyses the different effects of European Union austerity policy on women and men’s participation in the labour markets in two Southern European countries beaten by the Debt crisis: Spain and Italy. During the first part of this economics crisis, unemployment grew higher for men than for women, but in the second phase with the all sectors hit by the recession and the implementation of harsh austerity policies affecting public-sector jobs, women are also losing their jobs at the same rate than men. We have estimated labour supply models for individuals aged 25 to 54 living in couples with or without children by gender by using the EU-SILC 2011 micro data for Spain and Italy. The analysis carried out shows a strong countercyclical added-worker effect for women in response to transitory shocks in partner’s earnings, in contrast with a procyclical discouraged-worker effect for men. However though the added-worker effect prevails for women in Spain, in Italy still the discouraged worker effect dominates. The results show also a positive effect of the provision of childcare services on women’s labour supply. A cut in social and care services due to austerity promotion may turn the tendency to a decline in women’s participation and employment rates in the labour force with the subsequent loss of total well-being, due to gender differences in education performance, and especially of women’s well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Lina Gálvez-Muñoz 1 & Paula Rodríguez-Modroño & Tindara Addabbo, 2013. "The impact of European Union austerity policy on women's work in Southern Europe," Department of Economics (DEMB) 0018, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Department of Economics "Marco Biagi".
    • Handle: RePEc:mod:dembwp:0018
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Marcello Signorelli & Misbah Choudhry & Enrico Marelli, 2012. "The Impact of Financial Crises on Female Labour," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 24(3), pages 413-433, July.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender; labour supply; austerity policy; Great Recession;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • H53 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Welfare Programs
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory

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