Joint EWL and Oxfam publication on Women and the Recession

Published: Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Women's poverty and social exclusion in the European Union at a time of recession An Invisible Crisis?

All over the world, women remain poor in relation to men. This also is true in every member state of the European Union. The persistence of poverty in such a rich region of the world is shocking, even before the impact of recession has been considered.

In October 2009, Oxfam and the European Women's Lobby, commissioned research to explore and analyse the hidden impact of the current economic recession on women's poverty in the EU. This was conducted as part of the GenderWorks project on women's poverty and social inclusion in Europe, funded by the European Commission and led by Oxfam.

The report documents evidence of: precarious working conditions; increasing discrimination in the labour market with a subsequent shift to informal work; rising levels of poverty; reduced access to services; and rising levels of domestic violence, accompanied by cuts in vital support services.

The evidence clearly indicates that the recession is already having a significant negative effect on the lives of women, not only in relation to the labour market, but also, crucially, outside it. However, the impact of the recession on women remains largely invisible and further in-depth analysis is urgently required.

Key recommendations

• Discrimination against women: The relevant national authorities (statistics agencies, equality bodies, government departments) should compile data on the numbers of women who have filed complaints on the basis of sex discrimination in the workplace since the recession in 2008, and undertake analysis of the causes on an ongoing basis.
• Migrant and ethnic minority women: Immigration and integration policies should seek to break down structural obstacles to migrant women's full labour market participation, so that they are not restricted to part-time and insecure work with few, if any, employment rights.
• Violence against women: Ongoing and systematic monitoring should be established to measure progress in relation to violence against women. In particular, issues of violence against particularly vulnerable groups of women should be addressed.
• Social benefits: Gender-sensitive universal social protection standards (including access to good quality education and health care, and income security) should be established in all member states to address the needs of women, men, and children facing poverty and social exclusion.
• Access to services: The gender impact of expenditure cuts on access to high standards of health care and education should be assessed. Member state commitments to the Barcelona targets on childcare, fixed until 2010, should be renewed. New childcare targets should be developed, which recognise not only numbers and costs, but also the quality of care.

To read the entire report click here