Archive for the ‘gender discrimination’ Category

Free movement of workers or increase of social exclusion?

The case of Romanian care workers living in Italy

giovedì, October 7th, 2010

Dora is a Romanian care worker who has a sad story to tell. Thanks to the web archive www.storiemigranti.org we can listen to her voice. When she decided to emigrate to Italy in order to find a job, the help of a cousin was necessary for the placement to be organised. Dora was put in contact with a Sardinian family needing assistance for a very old “grandfather” and then started a regular job as a care worker. When the cousin requested money for the “service”, Dora was happy to have the chance to thank him for such a great opportunity. Unfortunately, these requests did not stop and Dora discovered to be exploited – with violence – by a member of her family. Furthermore, when she started to have a social life and to go out, always in the restricted periods of free time given to a care worker, something new happened. She was accused by her employer to attend the night clubs, “as the Romanian women regularly do”. This was not true. Her short Italian adventure had come to an unpredictable and dramatic end. Dora experienced social exclusions at two levels. At family level, she was exploited as a woman – a hard worker easy to sell and to rob. At social level, she was offended as a member of a national community with a negative reputation in the Italian society. Furthermore, a second victim of social exclusion should be mentioned. The old “grandfather” was suddenly deprived of a person having assisted him with respect and care.

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FEMINIZATION OF POVERTY IN EUROPE

A well-known phenomenon in a slightly modified form

mercoledì, July 21st, 2010

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”.

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