E.M.E.R.G.E. - European Mobility Enabling to Reduce th Ground of Exclusion - European Project hosted by Istituto Sturzo in partnership with ESA and FCASEC

FEMINIZATION OF POVERTY IN EUROPE

A well-known phenomenon in a slightly modified form

2010 is the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. Poverty and social exclusion are two interconnected, interdependent and extremely complex social phenomena that cannot be comprehensively defined within a whole book, not to mention within a single article. Poverty is the more traditional term, commonly perceived in strictly economic sense, which seems to constantly evolve and include more aspects. Social exclusion is a relatively new concept that has a multidimensional nature, including, again, a focus on the economic status of the individual. Even after recognizing the complexity of the two issues, we still need to admit the priority of the economic aspects in both phenomena. In this line of thinking, we also need to recall another social-economic phenomenon that has been widely discussed at EU level and that is still observed, especially in times of crisis. This phenomenon is directly linked to social exclusion in its definition as “each type of societal disadvantage” and is definitely related to poverty. Formulation of the cause-and-effect links, though, would be far more difficult. This phenomenon is traditionally known as “gender discrimination” and it can also be widely discussed in view of the various aspects of its manifestations. However, having in mind that 2010 is announced the year to fight poverty and social exclusion, let us concentrate on one single, but significant enough, aspect of gender inequality, which has evolved and been defined as a separate phenomenon itself – “feminization of poverty”.

Statistical data shows that currently, women in the European Union earn around 17% less than men. “In order to earn as much as a man would earn in a year, a woman needs to work until 22nd February the next year”… “A woman in Europe needs to work 418 days in order to earn as much as a man earns in a year”. This alarming trend has remained almost unchanged for the past 15 years, no matter how the statistics were formed and how the questions were phrased. The magnitude of the issue varies across countries. For example, the most significant inequalities are observed in Estonia, while Italy is the good example, where women earn only 4.4% less than men.

It is really surprising to follow the statistics on that matter, because “equal pay for equal work” was one of the founding principles of the EU, enshrined in the Treaty of Rome in 1957! There have been many initiatives and the EU still continues to work in the area of eliminating and preventing the “gender gap” in work payment. Legislation, strategies, campaigns, the 2006 European Pact for Gender Equality – there have been many actions proving that the issue is a priority on the European agenda. Why, then, are the results so frustrating?

What are the causes of the “feminization of poverty”?

Due to the fact that gender discrimination and the gender pay gap, in particular, have been the subject of extensive research within the last two decades, there are clear conclusions regarding the main causes behind the phenomenon of the gender pay gap: direct discrimination, undervaluation of women’s competences, segregation of the labor market, traditions and stereotypes, work-life balance. And if anyone wonders, at this point of the presentation, what the EU has actually done to alleviate the problem, the answer is, as much as possible. The 1975 Equal Pay Directive, prohibiting all discrimination in payment, the Roadmap for equality between women and men 2006-2010, the case-law of the EU Court of justice, etc. The actions of the EU and European legislation have successfully led to the effective elimination of the first factor, “direct discrimination”. Unfortunately, the other three are mainly dependent on national actions and, more importantly, national perceptions.
Stereotyping and labor market segregation are two of the most persisting problems. There are still jobs perceived as “women’s jobs” in sectors where average wages are lower than in sectors dominated by men. For example, 40% of European women work in the spheres of education, health and public administration and only 29% of European scientists and engineers are women. The fact that women are more prone to taking career breaks also makes their prospects for professional development and growth more limited compared to those of men. In professions, generally regarded as more competitive, there is the phenomenon known as “glass ceiling” preventing women from getting job positions that are higher in the hierarchy. In the long run, all these factors and trends result in the fact that women across Europe are actually more vulnerable than men to experience poverty, including in terms of poor housing, healthcare, struggle to find child-care services, etc.

What is the EU doing and what is the real problem?

The EU is doing a lot, for example, how many of you know that there is a website, developed by the European Commission dedicated to the gender pay gap, http://ec.europa.eu/equalpay ? There, one can also see the efforts the EU makes, in collaboration with the EU member-states and the social partners to tackle the gender pay gap. There, one can also find information about what has been done country by country, what the good examples in the area are, what the rights and obligations of every individual are, as a European citizen and employee. If so much is being done, what is the real problem then?
The real problem is that, as an entity comprised of 27 independent (the independence aspect becoming more questionable and relative as European integration deepens) states, the EU relies on the sum of individual achievements of all 27 member-states in order to score positive results on a given social issue. This also holds when it comes to fighting poverty and social exclusion, including when caused by gender pay gap.

Where does Bulgaria stand?

At a conference, organized by the Confederation of Independent Bulgarian Syndicates in May 2009, it was announced that business in Bulgaria had become much more willing to hire women than before. That was the good news. The bad news was the reason why. The financial and economic crisis made women more attractive and preferred employees because they were more willing to accept lower remuneration and worse working conditions than men. Unfortunately, this alarming trend has been observed not only in Bulgaria, but also in other EU countries, as well as outside the EU. According to Mrs. Schmidt from the International Labor Organization (ILO), women are the workforce buffer that faces the consequences of the global crisis all over the world.
There has been research on the so-called “social dumping” in Bulgaria and many scholars agree that it actually helped Bulgarian women survive the series of crises that Bulgarian society has witnessed since 1990. After the fall of Communisms in 1989 women were the first to lose their jobs and face the three main challenges of Bulgarian transition: poverty, unemployment, lack of alternative. In order to survive women had to make significant compromises and accept job offers that many men did not. The 2009 statistics showed that these compromises have led to a very alarming trend: 60% of the unemployed people in Bulgaria in 2009 were women, one third of them permanently outside the labor market. Women are, in general, more educated than men in Bulgaria and more, as a percentage of population. Despite that, they earn on average 16 % less. Even in professional fields that are traditionally more popular with women, like education, for example, women’s earnings are 18% less than those of men. Women working in financial brokerage earn 35 % less than men doing the same jobs and women employed in the healthcare sector earn 32 % less compared to their male colleagues. According to the deputy-chairman of the Confederation of Independent Bulgarian Syndicates, more than 60% of Bulgarian women work in underpaid economic sectors and earn only up to 75% of the average for the country salary.
The main problem, however, is not just the statistics itself, it is the lack of concern among Bulgarian society. Simply put, Bulgarians do not care much about the issue. Only around 28% of Bulgarian people consider the gender pay gap a serious problem and believe that certain measures should be taken. The average percentage for the EU on the same question is 62. Only 35% of Bulgarians believe that women should be paid more compared to 44% of the rest of Europeans. As a result, there is very limited social pressure in the country towards the elimination of the gender pay gap – it is just not considered that big of a problem. And this automatically puts women in a more disadvantaged position – women get less money, they get lower self-esteem, lower purchasing power and higher chance of getting poor. All these are additional factors fostering social inequality.

Some more examples from the EU Member-States

Having in mind the situation described in Bulgaria, especially the general attitude towards the issue of gender pay gap, it would be interesting and useful to have a look at the situation in other members of the EU. In Romania, for example, a country that joined the EU together with Bulgaria in 2007, some similarities can be found. The discrimination of women, especially at the workplace, stems from the fact that there is a general, old-fashioned opinion that women are inferior to men, even if they have the same knowledge or have received the same education. Even in the strongly feminized domains, such as social and education ones, the leading positions are also mostly taken by men. However, Romania has made a lot of effort to reduce this issue lately, and obvious changes can be seen in contrast to previous years such as 2007 or 2008, when, for instance, no woman was Minister. Now, 19% of the members of the Ministries are women. Between 2010 and 2012 a number of projects will be implemented, so that the equality of chances that men and women have at the workplace will be enforced, and these projects intend to invest large sums of money in order to achieve this balance.
What about Italy, a founding member of the EU and the “good example” in the 2008 statistics presented in the first section of the article? Does the longstanding tradition of European integration play significant role in the shaping and demonstration of social attitudes and policies towards gender discrimination and “feminization of poverty”?
The Italian statistics office Istat pointed out that Italy’s unemployment rate climbed in December 2009 to the highest level since at least 2004, while women and youth have significantly higher rates of unemployment than men. Women’s unemployment rate in May 2010 was around 10,1%, higher than in April 2010 (+0,1 % ) and May 2009 (+1,2 %). In order to reduce this percentage, the Minister of Equal Opportunity Ms. Mara Carfagna with Mr. Maurizio Sacconi, Minister for Welfare, have launched a “recovery plan” for the inclusion of women into the labor market. The mid-term plan, called “Italy 2020” and introduced for the first time last December at Palazzo Chigi in Rome, tries to help women to balance work and family and promotes equal working opportunities. To do so, Italy 2020 will support nurseries (the so-called tagesmutter, a daily mom who looks after children at her own house), babysitters and nannies highly qualified. It will provide vouchers for care centers and care services. It will economically sustain the teleworking women. Italy 2020 will provide refresher and professional courses for women who want to be reintegrated into the labor market after a long period of absence. The Italian Government has already allocated 40 million of Euros for this plan. These funds will be distributed by the Regions through announcements of selection. As for the Italian government policy, integration and employment of women are two very important issues also for European policy-makers. “Womenomics!”, a term coined by Kathy Matsui, managing director and chief Japan strategist at Goldman Sachs (Japan) Ltd – is the strong appeal for a better integration of women into the labor market, based on the concepts of gender equity, efficiency, and competitiveness.

What is the way forward?

The main concept behind the ongoing struggle to develop a really united Social Europe is that the common shared values of Member States can make the creation of a socially cohesive European Union possible. This concept is reaffirmed by one of the founding principles of the EU that economic growth is a positive achievement only when accompanied by sustainable development and adequate protection of social rights. Some of the main goals with regard to the achievement of the targets set in the Lisbon Strategy are the creation of more and better jobs in Europe, the decrease of poverty and prevention of discrimination, including at the workplace. In order to contribute to the realization of these goals, national governments constantly cooperate and negotiate to reach mutually acceptable harmonization of measures. This harmonization at state level must me accompanied by harmonization of mentality and perception among the citizens of the EU member-states. This is the only effective way to guarantee wide social support for state measures aimed at two main directions: deepening of the harmonization between state policies and making social policies more effective, that is, making EU social policy more “European” and more “social”.