Master of Arts Thesis
Euroculture
Georg-August Universität Göttingen (Home)
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (Host)
May 2014
Gender Inequality and the European Crisis: Is the
European Union Amid a Male Dominated Recession?
Submitted by:
Alexandra Stark Mebane
Student number home university: 21226340
Student number host university: 2445204
Contact details: +49 17676258753; mebane12@sbc.edu
Supervised by:
Name of supervisor home university: Dr. Amy Alexander
Name of supervisor host university: Dr. Margriet van der Waal
MA Programme Euroculture
Declaration
I, Alexandra Mebane, hereby declare that this thesis, entitled “Gender
Inequality and the European Crisis: Is the European Union Amid a
Male Dominated Recession?” submitted as partial requirement for the
MA Programme Euroculture, is my own original work and expressed in
my own words. Any uses made within this text of works of other
authors in any form (e.g. ideas, Figures, texts, tables, etc.) are properly
acknowledged in the text as well as in the bibliography.
I hereby also acknowledge that I was informed about the regulations
pertaining to the assessment of the MA thesis Euroculture and about
the general completion rules for the Master of Arts Programme
Euroculture.
Signed:
Table of Contents
Abstract ...4
I. Introduction...5
II. Theory ...8
II.II. Review and Impact ...10
II.III. Literary Findings ...15
III. Samples and Methods...19
III.II. Case Selection ...19
III.III. Time Period...26
III.IV. Data and Methods ...27
IV. Results...29
IV.II. Existence of Change...30
IV.III. Women’s Security: Economic Dimension...40
IV.IV. Women’s Security: Physical Dimension ...53
IV.V. Policy Response...68
V. Conclusion ...77
Bibliography...79
Abstract
Changes in women’s security since 2004, particularly changes that have occurred during the time period of the European Union Economic crisis, are not only very timely but are also under-researched and under-discussed. The sources utilized and referenced in this document are both reliable and reputable, and demonstrate an awareness of the reversal of gender equality throughout the European Union due to the European Union Crisis, beginning in 2008. This topic piqued my interest when I learned about the continually increasing rate of violence against women in Greece since the start of the European Union Crisis. I decided to see how these numbers compared to a country where I initially hypothesized the numbers would be significantly lower. I chose two countries as case studies through which I conducted my research: the Netherlands as a potential norm and Greece as an exception. I then decided to take two approaches to this thesis. The first approach dissects female labor force participation and economic autonomy as aspects of women’s economic security and the cause of widening gender gaps between two different member states within the European Union. The second approach is the presentation of and reflection on data displaying the increased amount of violence against women as the primary aspect of women’s physical security. Women’s economic and physical security is analyzed over the time span of a decade surrounding the European Union Economic crisis, and both approaches will reflect that the European Union Crisis played a detrimental role in destabilizing women’s security in the Netherlands and Greece.
I. Introduction
Times of economic crises are profoundly gendered.1 Though men and women are both affected by significant economic events, the issues women are more likely to face are not as frequently researched or widely discussed.2 Because of this, the European Union
Economic crisis or “Euro Crisis” is a significant event through which I can examine the implications of economic crises for women’s economic and physical insecurity. While the majority of research surrounding the impact of the European Union Crisis is centered on the topic of fiscal irresponsibility and global economics, the popular discourse and literature currently available has neglected the discussion of women’s security in terms of the Crisis. In this thesis, I examine the effect of the negative implications of the crisis on women’s security in two dimensions: the economic and the physical.
Women are especially vulnerable to the negative ramifications of crises. Among the many marginalized groups that exist in present society, women are doubly disadvantaged because they are not only attempting to gain and maintain their own economic and physical security in a time that proves rather challenging still, but their position is also heavily influenced by their male counterparts. Regardless of the progress a woman may individually make, it can be greatly affected or hindered by the situation of her partner and/or employer.
Women are also often disadvantaged in the areas of politics and economics, because they are traditionally male dominated sectors. Women are not mentioned as frequently as men in terms of job loss and economic instability in the aforementioned areas simply because female presence is much lower in these areas than the educational or public sectors, for example.3 The European Crisis has only exacerbated this issue, because despite the progress women have made over the last century, women are continually less involved in the political, economic and financial sectors.4 There is a lack of female presence in many employment sectors because many of the positions that women held prior to the Crisis have either been cut, downsized, or women were demoted to a part-time and/or lesser paying
1 Bettio, F. Corsi, M. D’Ippoliti, C. etc., The Impact of the Economic crisis on the Situation of Women and Men & on Gender Equality Policies, December 2012, p. 77-85, 98-105.
2 Ibid.
3 World Bank, Gender Equality and Development, in Chapter 5 ‘Gender Differences in Employment and Why they Matter’, World Development Report 2012, 2012, p.198-203.
position.5 This demonstrates that there is a severe gap that exists between the European Union Crisis and both dimensions of women’s security.
Implications for women’s security throughout the European Union does not greatly vary between member states, though there are some differences noteworthy of comparison. Because a study of all member states in the European Union is too extensive for a Master’s thesis, I have chosen to utilize two different countries as my primary case studies. The countries exemplified, the Netherlands and Greece, serve as excellent examples because of their past and current economic and social positions within the European Union. More importantly, there are many aspects where these countries strongly differ from one another. Not only are the Netherlands and Greece prime examples for juxtaposition throughout this thesis, but they also each share similarities with other countries in the European Union that could not be discussed in this thesis because it would widen the scope too drastically.
The areas most important to examine in terms of the Netherlands and Greece throughout this thesis are the average amount of hours worked per week, the average annual income, and the amount of women participating in the labor force. These three aspects are pertinent to my thesis because they not only display data that qualifies the Netherlands and Greece as representatives for other countries in the European Union that share similar statistics and trends, but they also provide physical evidence for changes occurring in security broken down by country over my established time period. Additionally, this statistical data and literature serves to provide a link between the European Union Crisis and its effect on women’s security in the Netherlands and Greece. I will evaluate this relationship over the time period of 2004-2014, during which the European Union Crisis occurred, and I will conduct my research using the methodological approach of mixed methods: qualitative and quantitative analyses. In summation, I research and analyze what changes have occurred to destabilize both dimensions of women’s security, the economic and the physical, in terms of the European Union Crisis.
The structure and content of my thesis is as follows: The succeeding chapter is my Theory section where I evaluate the literature I have found discussing women’s marginalization and insecurity, as well as why we can expect the European Union Crisis to negatively impact women’s security. The next chapter is my Sample and Methods section
5 EPSU,
II. Theory
The background of this thesis is equally as important to elucidate, as are the answers to the thesis question itself. There are many theories in existence pertaining to my thesis topic and why it was chosen above others; therefore it is necessary to break down this chapter into sub-chapters. This first section explores studies that encouraged my research, and have assisted me in identifying the relationship between the two dimensions of women’s security and the European Union Crisis instead of potentially researching other topics in the realm of modern day gender equality. The second section reviews the literature on economic crises and women’s security, looking to other crises that have occurred over time as examples, while further defining the cause of the European Union Crisis and its impact on the destabilization of women’s security. The third section will focus on what literature was found pertaining to the European Union Crisis and women’s security.
Studies have looked at a variety of trends in resources and achievements to evaluate women’s security. The trends that multiple studies and journals have discussed in terms of women’s security are the annual rates of female employment versus unemployment, average amount of hours worked per week per female employee, overall amount of female labor force participation, average annual income, amount of women per year continuing their education to receive advanced degrees, average amount of female part-time versus full-time employees, average gender wage gap, average gender equality gap per country, and annual gender violence gap. By looking to statistical databases and resources such as the International Labour Organisation, Eurostat, Eurobarometer, TNS Opinion and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Figures depicting such trends can give researchers an adequate understanding of when and why numbers in the aforementioned trends are increasing or declining.
home lives. There are many publications already in existence that address women’s fertility in modern day society, and trying to connect this example with the European Crisis would be a reach full of assumptions and inferences after seeing what data is presently available. What the literature shows is that enough information presently exists to not only infer, but conclude that changes in women’s security have occurred, and that the statistics present us with information that strongly lends itself to the two dimensions of women’s security, the economic and the physical.
II.II. Review and Impact
There have been many crises over the course of economic history, each of which had a lasting affect on the global economy. Some countries noticed a larger impact than others, while on a greater scale all countries and their economic statuses are inter-related. Past crises such as the Danish State Bankruptcy of 1813,6 the Secondary Banking Crisis of 1973 in the United Kingdom,7 and the Finnish and Swedish Banking Crises during the 1990s,8 are all excellent examples of smaller scale crises that affected the way hundreds upon thousands of people lived their lives throughout the last two hundred years. The European Crisis is not the only economic crisis under scrutiny for affecting the security of men and women throughout Europe and the wider world. According to USAID, women are impacted heavily during times of crises,9 leading to increased exploitation in both the legal and illicit economy, increased vulnerability to human trafficking, higher dropout rates in school before age eighteen, difficulty in accessing credit, as well as the fact that jobs created during times of crises have a tendency to target men first and foremost.10
Women are more likely to be involved in vulnerable working patterns, such as part-time employment, temporary employment, informal work, etc. They earn less and have fewer financial assets; they are often disadvantaged in terms of access to social security benefits; and they are severely underrepresented in political and economic decision -making.11
Throughout various crises, evidence from journals, reports, surveys and interviews equally discuss that the impact on women tends to be greater than the overall impact on men. The impact runs very deep in that women of all ages are affected by crises. For example, female adolescents are also affected by occasionally having to sacrifice their education and extra-curricular activities in order to take on part-time work, if available, or to stay home to take on the role of a babysitter to their other siblings.
6 Märcher, M. Danish Banking Before and After the Napoleonic Wars, https://natmus.academia.edu/MichaelMarcher p. 130-131.
7 De Bonis, R., Gomel, G. Crises and Bail-Outs of Banks and Countries: Linkages, Analogies, & Differences, Blackwell Publishers, 1999, p.56, 60-61.
8 Jonung, L. The Great Financial Crisis in Finland and Sweden in the 1990’s, American Economic Association, 2011.
9 USAID, The Economic crisis: Impact on Women, OECD, 2006, http://www.oecd.org/dac/gender-development/46460668.pdf
10 Ibid.
11 Leschke, J. Jepsen, M., Economic crisis-Challenge or Opportunity for Gender Equality in Social Policy
While the literature about economic crises primarily offers data and information regarding the economic impact on women’s security, the physical impact does exist. We know this to be true because enough of the literature available, such as the reports written by EIGE, the European Institute for Gender Equality, mentions that the biggest gender gap of all lies within gender violence.12 Unfortunately, literature surrounding women’s physical security is limited due to the fact that many women do not come forward to the police in cases of abuse. While surveys have been conducted asking women anonymously whether or not they have been victim to violence or have known a woman who has fallen victim, these surveys are conducted so infrequently that it is rather difficult to say with any certainty how high the rate of gender violence is at any given time. While the literature at hand, regardless of which economic crises it references, deals primarily with the economic security of women, the physical aspect is not ignored so much as it is mentioned as an unfortunate event through which data is limited and scarce.
Times of crises are widely understood as periods of rapid social change. Economic recessions can accelerate or hinder long-term trends, slowing progress in gender equality or acting as a catalyst for rethinking policies and priorities.13 Women are now in a position that makes them more vulnerable because of the changes occurring to women’s security. This vulnerability is evidenced by the loss of their jobs, facing prolonged unemployment, the inability to receive equal pay for the same work as their male counterparts, and familial dissatisfaction due to stressed and unhappy spouses.14
Women workers tend to be disproportionately employed with fragile and/or flexible contracts and, as marginal employees, tend to have weaker bargaining positions. This makes them more prone to job loss, and thus in a downturn they tend to lose jobs first. Women are further disadvantaged by social attitudes and seniority rules favouring male workers. An extension of this relates to women’s relatively greater employment in the export-oriented activities that are hit during a crisis—since women workers were generally preferred in such work, they are more likely to lose their jobs when demand for these products falls.15
12 European Institute for Gender Equality, Gender Equality Index Report for Europe 2013, June 2013, p. 139. 13 Brodolini, F. & Lyberaki, A. Gender Aspects of the Economic Downturn and Financial Crisis, 2011, p. 5-8. 14 Ibid.
Before the European Union Crisis began, women with young children were struggling to gain employment.16 Women who were gainfully employed were still earning less than men for the same type and amount of work, and thus women had less money to bring home and were overall considered to be poorer than men.17 After the crisis began, none of these issues improved, but instead worsened over time, leaving women in a more vulnerable and detrimental position than before.18
Therefore, one of the most valuable points of discussion for this thesis is the reason that the European Union Economic crisis began. While it is necessary to look at literature discussing crises as a whole, the European Union Crisis is the most recent and relevant, and the height of the crisis took place exactly in the middle of my chosen time period of 2004-2014 for this study. The European Union Crisis resulted because of the globalization of finance and the ease of obtaining credit and credit conditions from roughly 2002 to 2008.19
In 1999, 11 member states of the European Union adopted a national currency, the Euro.20
In doing so, countries with high debt burdens were not able to use certain measures to respond to the crisis that countries outside the euro could use such as high inflation or depreciating your currency.21 Countries like Greece were growing so strongly and rapidly that they were becoming less competitive internationally and the result was a large trade deficit.22 The collapse of the economy in the United States in 2007 caused international trade imbalances, the burst of real estate bubbles all over the states and parts of Europe, and an eventual recession in the United States as well as many other countries in the European Union from 2008 onwards.23 Greece had taken out up to 240 billion Euros in loans, and by 2010, entered a recession along with the majority of Euro currency utilizing EU member states.24 There are ongoing debates by experts in the field of global economics about the
16 Hakim, C., Women, Careers and Work-life Preferences, British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, Vol. 34, No. 3, August 2006, p. 8-16.
17 Brodolini, F. & Lyberaki, A. Gender Aspects of the Economic Downturn and Financial Crisis, 2011, p. 5-12.
18 Ibid.
19 Moseley, F. The U.S. Economic crisis- Causes and Solutions, International Socialist Review, March 2009, p.64
20 Harari, D. Causes of the Eurozone Crisis, Library House of Commons, UK Parliament, February 21, 2014. 21 Ibid.
22 Ibid.
23 Moseley, F. The U.S. Economic crisis- Causes and Solutions, International Socialist Review, March 2009, p.64
continuance of the effects and aftershocks of the European Union Crisis and whether or not it has officially come to an end, which means we may not yet have seen the worst of the impact of the Crisis on European citizens.
From the beginning of the crisis, Greece has been referred to by experts as a “protracted recession country”, meaning that the recession in Greece is long lasting, or recurrent, but without any lasting breaks in between recorded recessional dips.25 the Netherlands on the other hand, has been referred to as a “one-dip” country, which is the most common type in terms of recessions, and means that the Netherlands has only suffered one recessionary dip, and does not anticipate another, nor was its one dip unexpectedly long lasting.26 Because of the various types of categorized recessions, it may be unfair to discuss the European Union Crisis going forward in terms of a single recession, especially considering that the crisis has still not been deemed complete.
In order to understand how a protracted recession country differs from and a single dip country, we can look to the occurrence of the first recessionary slump that began in 2009, just after the credit crunch that spread from the financial services sector caused the official start of the crisis in the second and third quarters of 2009.27 By 2010, the credit crunch became a sovereign debt crisis that pressed for fiscal consolidation to reduce public deficits. By 2012, the sovereign debt crisis unfolded and the second dip developed.28 Over the last six years, the crisis has affected all countries differently, particularly depending on when or where each dip was most prominent. However the outcome for men and women’s security was the same, resulting in higher national debt and economic instability, regardless of whether they were living in the Netherlands or Greece.
Because of the repercussions of recessions in the Netherlands and Greece, we can expect that the European Union Crisis has negatively impacted women’s security because of the large amounts of unemployment suffered by men and women across the European Union that not only increased stress and uncertainty among affected citizens, but also has created tension between men and women due to a widening gender gap. This means that
25 Bettio, F. Corsi, M. D’Ippoliti, C. etc., The Impact of the Economic crisis on the Situation of Women and
Men & on Gender Equality Policies, December 2012, p. 11-14.
26 Ibid. 27 Ibid.
28 Bettio, F. Corsi, M. D’Ippoliti, C. etc., The Impact of the Economic crisis on the Situation of Women and
women are less likely to be gainfully employed as a result of the crisis, presenting financial obstacles and causing concern in the household, whereas in many cases households that were initially considered to be a dual earner household have now become a single earner household.29 Additionally, women’s security is presently more uncertain since the event of the crisis due to the current lack of employment, or full-time employment, unequal pay because of a widening gender pay gap, and rising tension in relationships with their spouses.30
29 Bettio, F. Corsi, M. D’Ippoliti, C. etc., The Impact of the Economic crisis on the Situation of Women and
Men & on Gender Equality Policies, December 2012, p. 11-14.
II.III. Literary Findings
The European Union Crisis is much more than a calamity surrounding inaccessible money, financial setbacks, and multiple recessions.31 While on the surface, many of its direct effects seem often distant from the common man or woman in that the issues are to be resolved by the government, the crisis has actually caused inexplicable amounts of damage in areas away from financial institutions or government, but that remain very close to the homes and hearts of men and women around the European Union. Though the European Union Crisis has yet to be extinguished, the suffering, stress and loss it has left in the wake of the peak years of hardship between 2009 and 2012 caused even further damage in many societies around the European Union even today.32
The literature I have been able to find regarding the damage of the European Union Crisis discusses destabilization of economic security as the biggest transition that both men and women have undergone since the start of the Crisis in 2009. Unfortunately, the aspect of physical security is under-developed and under-researched, so in order to discuss this dimension of security, I have had to often refer to the few surveys that were conducted regarding gender violence or effects of the European Union Crisis on European citizens, in order to draw the conclusions I discuss in depth in the Results chapter of this thesis.
In order to come to come to the aforementioned conclusions regarding the opinions and behavior of European citizens, namely Dutch and Greek women, I have utilized the following surveys: The Eurobarometer conducted two of the most beneficial surveys to this thesis during two different decades, by surveying thousands of European citizens in the European Union. In both 1999 and 2010 the Eurobarometer has produced one of the most influential ways to view the changes in women’s security. Why this survey is so valuable is that it possesses data available on behalf of the European Commission that was taken before the start of the crisis and amid the peak of the crisis. TNS Opinion conducted two Eurobarometer special studies in 1999 and 2010, surveying 26,800 men and women from all over the European Union during a two month time period. While the European Union has grown in membership since 1999, meaning that only 15 member states were surveyed
31 Buti, M., van den Noord, P., Economic crisis in Europe: Causes, Consequences, Responses, European Commission, European Economy Vol. 7, 2009, p. 14-25.
the first time and 27 the second time, this survey takes that into account, balancing all ratios and averages appropriately. Greece and the Netherlands were both member states of the European Union prior to 1999, so this survey offers a clear picture of both countries and their opinion polls and statistics within an eleven-year span, further proving trends and changes in data and opinion over my specified time period.
While TNS Opinion did not directly question men and women of all ages specifically about women’s security, the survey questions were posed in such a way that the audience may easily make inferences as to what the survey is really asking. The questions all ask the interviewee about their opinions and perspective, so the results can be open for interpretation depending on the answers one might be looking to find. In the case of this thesis, the questions were framed in the direction that favors my proposed outcome of the relationship between the European Crisis and women’s security, so I utilize this document quite often to support my other findings and statements.
An additional Eurobarometer and TNS Opinion survey was conducted in 2013, also using a large number of participants; it mainly discusses opinions regarding gender equality and the gender gap instead of questions directly relating the European Union Crisis and unemployment. The goal of the TNS Opinion survey was to investigate the thoughts and opinions of European citizens from all around the European Union regarding gender inequality and the gender wage gap. TNS Opinion polled 25,000 European citizens from across the European Union. These respondents were surveyed over the course of a week in February 2013, and were asked to rank the gender inequalities they viewed as most important.
are being advanced to suit the EU as a whole, as well as on nation-wide levels so that they will better protect EU citizens in the future against potential crises.
Unsurprisingly, the majority of the literature I have found redirects the attention of the reader to the situation of the men in the majority of articles, minimizing the emphasis on the severity of the situation for women, which is at times difficult as a researcher searching for specific information and statistics. An example of this phenomenon is present in many of the other sources I use throughout the paper, such as EIGE’s Gender Equality Index for Europe, the Foundation for European Progressive Studies paper about the Economic crisis and Gender Equality in Europe, the Journal of European Social Policy and the article about looking ahead to a European Gender Equality Index, the European Parliament and TNS Opinion’s study about Women and Gender Inequalities in the Context of the Crisis, the European Sociological Review’s article about the persistence of the gendered division of domestic labor, and the report by EGGE on Gender Equality, Employment Policies and the European Crisis.
In contrast, the articles I found that did not direct the reader’s attention away from the issues surrounding women’s security were the articles written about violence against women, and these articles do not offer a relationship between violence and the European Union Crisis. Some of the journals and publications I cite throughout this paper are by the Council of Europe, and the paper discussing Combating Violence Against Women, a report conducted by the Greek Helsinki Monitor targeting Violence Against Women in Greece, the FRA’s survey on Violence Against Women across the EU, the Human European Consultancy’s report on The Netherland’s measures to combat discrimination, and the Turkish Institute’s publication about domestic violence against women in the Netherlands.
III. Samples and Methods
In the following section, I explain how I have conducted my research by discussing my case studies and time period, my chosen methodological approach, and the significant role of the variables behind this approach.
III.II. Case Selection
The Netherlands and Greece are the two case studies examined in this paper. While being sensitive to traditional practices and aspects of both cultures and societies, this paper will explore the lives of working women inside and outside of the home in the Netherlands and Greece before and during the European Union Crisis. I have made sure to acknowledge that while oppression in the household and work environment exists without the occurrence of the European Union Crisis due to complicated social, economic, and cultural dynamics present in everyday Dutch and Greek society, there have still been significant shifts in behavior among households and work environments within the Netherlands and Greece.
While gender violence has been visible within Dutch and Greek societies for centuries, it is valuable to not lose sight of the historical reasons for their slow encouragement of female labor force participation. Historical norms must also be taken into account when sensitively discussing the research questions of this paper that involve varying cultural backgrounds. Though violence against women is a known occurrence throughout the world, the Netherlands and Greece will serve as adequate representatives for countries in a similar position socially and economically within the area of focus, the European Union.
There are many reasons for choosing the Netherlands and Greece as optimal case studies for this thesis. Aside from the fact that both countries use the Euro as they were among some of the first member states to adopt the Euro in January 2002,33 and have been members of the European Union for longer than a decade, both countries serve as excellent representatives of two very different lifestyles. the Netherlands, from attitude and culture to economic prosperity, is a fair representative of the European Union countries that work around or under 40 hours per average work week, have a higher annual income, and
statistically have more women actively involved in the labor force.34 Similarly, Greece is an excellent choice to represent the European Union member states that work at or above 40 hours of work per week, have a lower annual income, and tend to have fewer women actively involved in the labor force.35 (see Figures 7a,b and 8 a,b)
Greece was chosen as the first of the two case studies for this paper because of its large role in the European Union Crisis. It may be argued that the Greek economic situation is the backbone of the crisis, making in an exceptional case among its 28 fellow member states. Other facts such as Greece’s traditional, patriarchal past and present, its well-documented history of oppression against women, and rising numbers of violence against women, which could be argued to have been influenced by the European Union Crisis, also make Greece an excellent case for this paper.
Additionally, Greece has a large gender gap in comparison to other member states, oscillating between the European state with the largest gender gap and one of the largest gender gaps over the past decade,36 despite having undergone recent legislation reform in 2001 to bring equal rights to women in terms of pay and obligation; the country is still noticeably unequal and imbalanced.37 Greek men also have a high number of hours worked per week when compared to other European Union countries. Greeks average over forty hours per week, yet their annual income is still significantly lower than in other member states that reportedly work less hours per week.38
The final reason Greece was selected as a case study is because of its poor performance on one of the most valuable and respected European Union equality indicators pre- and during the European Union Crisis; the Global Gender Equality Index. This data demonstrates that Greece was already struggling to catch up to the rest of the European Union before the crisis hit and during the crisis, as it scored consistently lower than the EU average. In order to better understand some of the foundational differences in Greece and
34 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,
https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=ANHRS#, Accessed April 10, 2014. 35 Ibid.
36 Plantenga, J. Remery, C. Smith, M. etc., Towards a European Union Gender Equality Index, Journal of European Social Policy, 2009, p. 3-15.
37 World Organisation Against Torture & Greek Helsinki Monitor, Violence Against Women in Greece, August 5, 2002, p. 3-35.
38 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Aside from the data listed above, the Netherlands was chosen as the second case study for my research, not only because of its similarities to Scandinavian countries, but it is not an exceptional example, such as that of Greece. Having one country as an example of a cultural “norm” within the scope of this study, allows for a unique juxtaposition with a society that is more of an exception. When compared to Greece using the EIGE index of 2010, at the peak of the Crisis, the Netherlands scored consistently above the EU average. On the other hand, the Netherlands, somewhat similarly to Greece, had historically patriarchal societal roles throughout the last century, but the Netherlands has been more successful than Greece in bridging the gap between men and women,39 finding itself with a lower gender pay gap than two thirds of the European Union, and listed very high on the Gender Equality Index as one of the top fifteen countries in the world with the highest rate of gender equality for 2013.40 The Netherlands is also a distinctive model and
representative for Western and Northern European countries as it also participates in the current norm of the “one and a half working model”, wherein one partner works full time while the other works part-time in order to have more time for taking care of the family.41
The biggest similarities between the Netherlands and Greece in terms of women’s economic autonomy and female labor force participation tend to be the areas in which women are the most prominent, such as the education, health, and public sectors.42 Both countries have high rates of women attending higher education, and in the case of Greece, even more women complete their studies at the university level than men,43 making the difference in pay between men and women for the same job seem even more unfair and displaced. While higher education, may have in some ways sheltered women in the northern countries of the European Union from unemployment, it in fact did not shelter women in the Southern, Mediterranean countries at all.44 In 2012, it was noted that there is severe under-representation of women in areas such as manufacturing, construction and
39 Wintle, M. An Economic and Social History of The Netherlands 1800-1920, Cambridge Press, 2004, p. 325. 40 Schwab, K. Brende, B. Zahidi, S. etc., Global Gender Gap Report 2013, World Economic Forum, 2013, p. 302-304.
41 CBS.NL (Statisics Netherlands),
http://www.cbs.nl/en-GB/menu/themas/arbeid-sociale-zekerheid/publicaties/artikelen/archief/2013/2013-3925-wm.htm?RefererType=RSSItem, 05, November 2013.
42 Franco, A. The Concentration of Men and Women in Sectors of Activity, Eurostat, 2007, p. 2-8. 43 World Organisation Against Torture & Greek Helsinki Monitor, Violence Against Women in Greece, August 5, 2002, p. 3-12, 12-18.
some areas of finance, so men suffered the biggest losses in these sectors, despite the overall volume and percentage of women without jobs in terms of all sectors.45
These two nations, when delving deeper, are more alike than is superficially noticeable. In the Netherlands and Greece, patriarchal structures remain so that women tend to be more disadvantaged in resources and achievements, as well as being overburdened during times of hardship with unpaid labor, as demonstrated during the European Union Crisis. The decision to analyze the Netherlands and Greece instead of any other countries in the European Union was also made in order for each country to act as a representative of two very different lifestyles. By focusing on how women’s security has changed within these two nations particularly under the influence of the European Union Crisis, and what these two countries are doing to combat a widening gender gap, it will become evident why these countries serve as excellent examples for the purposes of this study.
III.III. Time Period
III.IV. Data and Methods
For my methodology, I use a mixed method approach: I investigate the impact of the Euro crisis on female security with both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The reason I have not chosen to use only one method of analysis is because neither method is as thorough on its own as it is when combined with the other. Both approaches are complementary in what they analyze and how they do so. Qualitative analysis is not only best applied to smaller scale studies, but it also looks at the reason behind why or how an event has occurred by looking to literature and non-numerical data. This is appropriate for my research since I am exploring how women’s security changed because of the European Union Crisis and why this change has occurred. Quantitative analysis uses numerical data and statistics to prove a connection between observation and inference and what the data sets reveal. This also relates to my research because of the amount of statistics I have to dissect and explicate in order to show trends that support my analysis of a change in women’s security as a result of the Crisis.
The qualitative variables for this research come from the narratives and literature used to explicate the reasons behind the changes in women’s security and the European Union Crisis. This literature then addresses the various trajectories over the period of the European Union Crisis, such as loss of income and financial stability, the struggle for women to maintain security both in the home and workplace, and levels of stress and dissatisfaction in the everyday lives of Dutch and Greek women. As the literature shows, financial and emotional suffering throughout the Netherlands and Greece has increased during the peak of the European Union Crisis, and without proper action from the government on the EU and national levels, another crisis could collapse the entirety of the European Union. Should the gender gap continue to widen because the issue is consistently placed on the "back burner" at nation-wide and EU wide meetings, the lives of men and women will only be further burdened by the lack of income and increase in familial stress and dissatisfaction.
IV. Results
In this chapter, I explicate the changes in both dimensions to women’s security in Greece and the Netherlands over the European Union Crisis period of 2004-2014. I furthermore argue that these changes in women’s security, as is visible by changes in statistical data, opinion surveys and documented behavior across the Netherlands and Greece, confirm an impact by the European Union Crisis. In order to thoroughly discuss the findings of my research, I present the following sub-sections as evidence of change.
IV.II. Existence of Change
To fully comprehend the current position of women in the Netherlands and Greece, and the permutations that these countries have undergone since 2004, it is necessary to observe patterns, fluctuations and shifts in female labor market participation, economic autonomy, and rate of violence against women as primary facets of women’s security over the last decade through present day Netherlands and Greece. By looking at several graphs in this section that pertain to various aspects of women’s security, I will adequately prove that change has occurred for women’s security since 2004.
Extremely relevant to this section, as it excels at proving the existence of change in women’s security since 2004 is the survey conducted by TNS Opinion on behalf of the European Parliament. Europeans were surveyed over the course of a week in February 2013, and were asked to rank the gender inequalities they viewed as most important. The gender pay gap was deemed the most important gender inequality, with almost one in three Europeans stating that the European Union Crisis has in particular worsened the gender pay gap.46
Additionally, when Europeans were asked to rank the gender inequalities they felt had worsened as a result of the European Union Crisis, Dutch nationals responded that the gender pay gap was the first thing to worsen due to the crisis, followed by violence against women.47 Greek nationals answered similarly, except that violence against women had worsened above anything else as a result of the crisis, then followed by the gender pay gap.48 The graph shown in Figure 3, “socio-demographic results”, shows data by age and gender of women only, which gives us a much better understanding of the opinions of women across the EU as they are protected by anonymity.
46 TNS Opinion & Eurobarometer, Women and Gender Inequalities in the Context of the Crisis, February 2013, p. 2-6.
Figure 3.
Overall, Europeans ranked the gender pay gap as the most important gender inequality, followed by violence against women.49 The Eurobarometer survey shows the values that not only all Europeans hold in high regard, but also the values that they feel like they have lost as a result of the European Union Crisis. Women from the Netherlands and Greece agree that the gender pay gap and violence against women are the two most important
gender inequalities to them, as well as the two that have noticeably worsened since the start of the European Union Crisis. This demonstrates change over time because the data from Figures 3 and 4 implies that prior to the Crisis (pre- 2009), the gender inequalities were less severe.
Figure 4.
of this thesis. In Figure 4 on page 32, women ages 25-39 who are most likely to be working and married (also according to the data) believe the biggest difficulty since the start of the crisis is reconciling their private and working lives, further proving that women’s security in the home and workplace have worsened over time, and have been negatively affected since the start of the crisis.
When looking to the unemployment gap between Dutch and Greek women in Figures 5 and 6 on page 34, it should be noted that while far more working-aged women are unemployed in Greece as opposed to the Netherlands, the loss of economic and financial security is the same for women regardless of geographic location. This change worsened from years prior to the crisis, showing a significant change in employment security for women.
Figure 5.
As shown in Figure 5 (Netherlands ages 15-64) and Figure 6 (Greece ages 15-64), the differential impact of the crisis on men and women is confirmed by looking at female unemployment and the gender gap in unemployment, i.e. the difference between male and female unemployment. In all cases women suffer a heavy rise in unemployment as a result of the crisis.50 Note: in the EU as a whole, the absolute change in the unemployment rate is greater for men by 50%.51
50 Brodolini, F., Lyberaki, A., Gender Aspects of the Economic Downturn and Financial Crisis, European Parliament, September 2011, p. 47.
Figure 6.
Figure 6 discusses the situation of Greece instead of the Netherlands, with the last column reporting the percentage rise in absolute unemployment for men for comparison purposes.52
Another source proving that change did occur in women’s economic security since 2004, particularly around the time of the European Union Crisis, comes from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The statistics available from the OECD are excellent sources for monitoring change. Multiple scholarly sources used this scale to examine how all European Union member states have performed in the past and are currently performing since the start of the European Union Crisis. An example of OECD’s relevance to my thesis is looking to the situation of working aged women in countries throughout the European Union to assess their amount of hours worked per year.
Figure 7a.
What Figures 7a and 7b show us are the hours worked per year by women in specified countries ages 15 to 64 from 2004 to 2012.53 As the chart states, women from the Netherlands have double the amount of hours worked per year when compared to Greece. The hours also increased per year for both the Netherlands and Greece, showing that once the Crisis hit both countries, women who were still in the labor force were then expected to take on more responsibility and hours worked.54 For Greek women, hours began to decline significantly around 2011, just as the Crisis was beginning it’s second recessionary dip in Greece.
When looking to average annual hours worker per worker, however, the results are much different. Once men are brought into the equation, Greek annual hours increased, while Dutch annual hours decreased, as can be seen in Figures 8a and 8b. This shows changes in economic security for women in both the Netherlands and Greece because the situation regarding men’s security also directly affects both aspects of women’s security.55
53 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,
https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=ANHRS#, Accessed April 28, 2014. 54 Ibid.
Figure 8b.
Average annual hours worked per year per worker is valuable to this thesis because it shows change over the course of eight years, with the biggest decline in hours for both countries occurring at the start/peak of the crisis between 2008 and 2010.
The greatest concern for Greece at present is not only that female employment was relatively low at the onset of the European Union Crisis, but also that it has steadily declined since 2009 with no indications of it reversing and trending upward.56 Unfortunately for many of the southern European countries where women’s employment was already scarce, Greece and Malta being two of the most affected, the European Union Crisis is to blame for the continued lack of work, as it has retrenched women’s job opportunities in places where they were more difficult to find in the first place.57
56 Bettio, F. Corsi, M. D’Ippoliti, C. etc., The Impact of the Economic crisis on the Situation of Women and
Men & on Gender Equality Policies, December 2012, p. 11-30, 68-75.
Unemployment rose among women in countries where they are poorly integrated into the labor market- Greece and Malta in particular- Although this may be taken as a sign of women’s determination to stay in the labor market, it also indicates that the crisis may have disproportionately curtailed employment opportunities for women in these countries. Between 2007 and the onset of the European Union Crisis in 2009, the number of disputes on gender equality at work in which the labor inspectorate was called to intervene, increased from 11 cases in 2007 to 79 in 2010.58 The number of cases increased by 618% in the span of two years due to how quickly and severely the European Union Crisis affected Greek female employees.59
What these numbers and available data show us is that there has been a significant change in men and women’s security, though the focus tends to be on men’s security due to the present lack of information and awareness surrounding women’s security. Changes in women’s security have occurred prior to 2004 and will continue to occur post 2014, however for the scope of this thesis, there is sufficient evidence from multiple sources displaying trends and dips in numbers over the period of the European Union Crisis, leaving us to deduce that change in women’s security both economically and physically has occurred.
58 Bettio, F. Corsi, M. D’Ippoliti, C. etc., The Impact of the Economic crisis on the Situation of Women and
Men & on Gender Equality Policies, December 2012, p. 11-14.
IV.III. Women’s Security: Economic Dimension
Since the previous sub-section has proven that changes in women’s security in the Netherlands and Greece exist, I will now narrow down the discussion to that of the first dimension of women’s security: the economic dimension. I explicate the importance of women’s economic autonomy, women’s labor force participation, and the prevalence of women’s unemployment in the Netherlands and Greece, particularly surrounding the time frame of the European Union Crisis. This section proves that evidence of change in women’s economic security exists, but has been impacted by the onset and existence of the European Union Crisis.
What is the economic dimension of security? In the context of this thesis, the economic dimension of security is the condition that encompasses all financial aspects of security, from types of employment to financial status, independence, and income. More importantly, women’s economic independence, or autonomy, as an aspect of security, does not imply complete independence from men, rather it suggests that women are willing and able to control their own resources, and therefore have a greater voice in the household than women who look to men as the main source of support and authority.60 This definition offers a more fair view of women’s autonomy as it may vary between countries and societies where economic autonomy hardly exists or is still developing as a potential way of life for working women.
While security differs from autonomy, the two are closely related. Security is a blanket term encompassing both economic and physical repercussions of the crisis on women, and since security is two dimensional, the economic aspect of security surrounding finances, employment and independence is important to address separately from the second, physical aspect of security. It is valuable to this thesis to discuss economic security also in terms of economic autonomy, because financial security stems from employment and both are pertinent to the bigger discussion of women’s security.
Though the trend in Europe is aiming towards a more economically equal society in with the potential for economic autonomy, women are still a marginalized group, as is
particularly evident in terms of salary, wage, and hours of work per week.61 Despite the varying statistics between countries in the European Union with regard to equality and the gender gap, as well as the gender pay gap, women as a whole still fall behind men. Even though the hours may be the same, and the amount of work is fairly distributed, women in the European Union are still making an average of 16 percent less than men per hour of work completed.62 This number over the past decade has fluctuated very little, lowering itself to 15 percent less, but rising to over 18 percent.63
While the statistics from Eurostat and the European Commission do not reflect a strong connection to the European Union Crisis in this regard, it can be noted that in the past, women have not been able to consider themselves to be among the ranks of their male colleagues, regardless of the area in which they are employed. The European Union average of employed men to women is 75 percent of men to 62 percent of women in 2011, the year right after the first and most powerful dip leading into multiple recessions throughout the European Union.64 This gap is not only caused by the recession however,
nor by persisting discriminatory practices in the work environments of multiple countries, but also by the roles attributed to women in different cultures, and the qualifications and specifications of the sectors in which these women are gainfully employed.65
The European Union Crisis has frequently been referred to as a male-dominated crisis, as men’s unemployment Figures raised more noticeably in the early stages of the recession.66 Economists predict that the effect of the European Union Crisis on women will continue to unfold post 2013, despite the upward trends that are becoming more apparent with each preceding quarter. The fear, however, is that women might be more vulnerable to the later effects of the crisis.67
61 European Commission, Gender Equality and Economic Independence, http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/economic-independence/index_en.htm, September 02, 2013
62 Ibid.
63 Smith, M. The Gender Pay Gap in the EU- What Policy Responses? February 2010, p. 8. 64 De Jong, W. European Women and the Crisis, European Parliament, February 14, 2013, p. 3. 65 Ibid.
Figure 9.
The first example of varying facets of security in the European Union, or more specifically the Netherlands and Greece, is exemplified in Figure 9.68 This table shows the different aspects of the EU Gender Equality Index, which gathers statistics from EU countries in nine different aspects of life. The importance of these nine figures is that they show (see the final column titled composite index score) how each country ranks among others in the EU in different aspects of life. With the exception of socio-economic power, though the difference is small, the Netherlands ranks higher than Greece in all aspects of the Gender Equality Index. Thus, the Netherlands can serve as a “model country in progress” for other European Union countries, such as Greece, struggling to recover from the repercussions of the European Union Crisis, which has yet to officially end. Because the Netherlands has
taken small strides to amend legislation impacting women in the workplace and women’s economic autonomy, there is hope that other countries despite their differences may follow suit so that the impact of newer legislation on a European Union wide level will be the most effective.
Women’s economic security is imperative to the progress of all European Union member states going forward. Without striving to achieve both dimensions of women’s security, the European Union Crisis will serve as an excellent reminder for what a negative impact a male-dominated culture can have on its country, and the European Union as a whole. If women had more opportunities before the crisis, it has been determined that the outcome per country would not have been as devastating.69 Because the Netherlands had made more progress than Greece towards the eventual goal of women’s economic autonomy prior to the European Union Crisis, the Netherlands suffered but one recessionary dip and less dramatic numbers of female unemployment.70 Greece, on the
other hand, was hit with two large-scale, continuing recessions with no certainty as to how long they would last.71 Women suffered largely from unemployment, and the hope for economic security for women has presently been pushed even farther back.
69 De Jong, W. European Women and the Crisis, European Parliament, February 14, 2013, p. 1-5.
70 Bettio, F. Corsi, M. D’Ippoliti, C. etc., The Impact of the Economic crisis on the Situation of Women and Men & on Gender Equality Policies, December 2012, p. 16-20.
Figure 10.
towards the economic situation of men, not women, despite evidence that shows equal perceptions.
Historically, women have had neither the privilege of benefiting from economic security nor economic autonomy. While there has been some EU policy put in place over time that attempts to bring women into the labor market at both the EU-wide and country-wide levels, there are still fundamental differences between men and women, with specific reference to their quality of employment.72 The support for women’s labor market participation among member states has dwindled since the start of the European Union Crisis due to varying gender and political histories.73 However, women are seeking out new challenges and a different way of life that was not pre-determined or dictated by age, marriage, or childbearing. This idea of exploration and discovery may lead women to an entirely new way of life, transforming traditional women into pioneers of their time.74
This idea of female empowerment has manifested itself in several waves throughout history known as feminism and feminist movements.75 However, feminists are not the only
women seeking equal rights, treatment and pay. Today, women from various cultures and backgrounds living in Greece and the Netherlands are fighting for fairness and equality in both the home and the workplace.76
Why is economic security and independence difficult for women from the past and present to achieve? Perhaps the reason is because policies and legislation have not had adequate time to adapt to the empowerment and ambitions that women possess, or perhaps the reason is due to the fact that it takes so much time, money, and effort to put gender equality bills on the table and there have simply been more urgent and pressing matters gathering the attention of government officials from the European Union.77 However, economic security is something to which all should be entitled as it is fundamentally not debatable or transferrable, despite how the government attempts to use it or its influence on European citizens.
72 Pascall, G. Gender and European Welfare States, 2008, p.1, 6-7. 73 Ibid.
74 Krolokke, C. Gender Communication Theories and Analyses, Sage Publications, 2006, p.15-27, 44-65. 75 Ibid.
76 Ibid.
The biggest issue surrounding economic security for women, however, is that women are no longer seen as the employment buffer when jobs in certain areas such as the public sector become scarce.78 Women are being replaced by young people content with temporary contracts, as well as by male migrant workers looking for any type of job regardless of specifications.79 The unadjusted gender pay gap at the European level since the beginning of the European Union Crisis has declined in 16 of the 27 European Union member states.80 Women and men alike are looking to move across borders, change their goals and ambitions to more obtainable ones, and start a new career path when opportunities are running low.81
There has historically been an under-representation of women in job areas such as manufacturing and construction, regardless of available opportunities. These areas are also where male unemployment has suffered the most, though many positions within financial institutions have also been hit hard. This under-representation has protected female employment until now. At peak employment before the recession began, 10 member states were above a 65% employment mark for women ages 15-64, but the number was down to 6 member states in the first quarter of 2012.82 From these figures, it can be deduced that while women’s economic autonomy has always been a struggle to achieve, it has potentially been made more difficult to obtain due to the European Union Crisis. As Corsi states, the crisis reinforces differences in access to rights for men and women, and this access of women to fundamental rights has been restricted.83
Referring to my first case study of Greece, Greek society has been in the spotlight of the European Crisis for many reasons, but mostly because of its role in causing the level of European debt to sharply increase. Greece’s economy began as one of the fastest growing, so that when the crisis hit, Greece suffered heavily as its main industries are shipping and tourism, which fluctuate greatly depending on the changes of the business cycle.84 Men were hit especially hard, with job cuts in various sectors, most male
78 Corsi, M. Economic crisis and Gender Equality in Europe, September 2013, p. 2-5 79 Corsi, M. Economic crisis and Gender Equality in Europe, September 2013, p. 1-3. 80 Corsi, M. Economic crisis and Gender Equality in Europe, September 2013, p. 2-5. 81 Ibid.
82 Ibid. 83 Ibid.
dominated, such as construction and manufacturing, however women also lost their jobs with women’s unemployment considerably high, in favor of giving their few positions available to their male-counterparts.85
My second case study of the Netherlands, on the other hand, has made progress since 2006 in closing gender gaps overall, though notably within the work place, though the gender pay gap is still evident despite the narrowing of overall gender gaps. According to the Global Gender Gap Index for 2013, when comparing the Netherlands and Greece in male unemployment, the unemployment rate for men in Greece reached 15% by the end of 2013, while the same Figure for men in the Netherlands reached only 5% by the end of 2013.86 Female unemployment, however, reached 21% in Greece, which has a population of just 11.30 million people.87 Women in the Netherlands had an unemployment rate of 4%, in a population of 16.69 million. These numbers are among both the highest and lowest in the European Union, polarizing the two countries to understand the wide range of unemployment percentages occurring across all European Union member states. When compared to the Global Gender Gap Index for 2007, the unemployment rate for Greek men was 6% and 16% for Greek women, showing a large increase in the six years encompassing the European Union Crisis.88 Interestingly, for Dutch men and women in 2007, the unemployment rate was equal at 4%.89 For the Dutch, unemployment remained mostly unchanged from 2007-2013, however many women opted to extend their studies, or went from full-time to part-time employment, as part-time employment is often favorable in the Netherlands for Dutch women who are studying or have a family, since 80% of women employed in the Netherlands last year were part-time employees.90
The ranking of Greece on the Global Gender Gap scale for 2013 is 81st out of 136 countries, whereas the Netherlands ranks 13th out of 136 countries.91 This means that the Netherlands has the thirteenth smallest gender gap out of 136 countries, and Greece has an
85 Buti, M., van den Noord, P., Economic crisis in Europe: Causes, Consequences, Responses, European Commission, European Economy Vol. 7, 2009, p. 14-17, 20-24.
86 Schwab, K. Brende, B. Zahidi, S. etc., Global Gender Gap Report 2013, World Economic Forum, 2013, p. 100-102, 210-212.
87 Ibid.
88 Schwab, K. Brende, B. Zahidi, S. etc., Global Gender Gap Report 2007, World Economic Forum, 2007, p. 85, 124.
89 Ibid.
above average sized gender gap, placing it closer towards the end of the gender gap index. Labor force participation for both men and women in the Netherlands ranks 38th out of 136 countries, whereas Greece’s labor force participation ranks again 81st out of 136 countries, meaning that when broken down by gender, even though men have more jobs than women in Greece, when compared to the global scale, this displays just how few women in Greece actually are employed.92
Because of the European Union Crisis’ impact on Dutch and Greek women’s economic security, several effects have been coined and further defined by officials as a result. Since the early stages of the recession showed that women were already experiencing negative outcomes in terms of employment and unemployment,93 two specific effects were born in order to help explain the complex and delicate economic and gender situation in Europe. The first effect is known as the “marginality effect”, which states that women’s weaker position than men in the labor force as marginal employees makes them more vulnerable to unemployment and losing work.94 Women have a tendency to be
discriminated against in that they are more likely to lose their jobs before their male counterparts, and gaining re-employment is often restricted due to prevailing social attitudes and norms as well as seniority in rank which favors men.95
The second effect is known as the “strength and weakness effect”, which determines that a woman’s position as a new employee status combined with her initial lower income makes her more of a target to employers when they are required to let go some of their staff.96 The fact that these effects have now been classified in a manner that emphasizes the impact of recessions on employed women, is yet another validation to the statement that women lack economic autonomy since the beginning of the crisis. Because the initial pay within the workplace for women does tend to be lower than men’s, averaging 16% lower than men’s within the European Union during the European Union Crisis,97 women can
92 European Commission. Labour Market Participation of Women, 2012, p. 6.
93 European Parliament, Gender Aspects of the Economic Downturn and Financial Crisis, 2011, p. 9-15, 27-30.
94 Ibid. 95 Ibid. 96 Ibid.
