Women across Europe are more likely than men to experience poverty, and single mothers, older women and immigrant women are particularly vulnerable. Fifteen years after the signing of the Beijing Declaration on the right of women, there is still a long way to go.
Women are more likely than men to have poor housing, to neglect their health and struggle to find child-care services. Financial precariousness can cause women to stay with violent men and force others into prostitution and human trafficking. This gender imbalance is likely to grow in the current economic climate
“Gender neutral language can mask the fact that more women than men are poor,” says Leanda Barrington-Leach of the European Women’s Lobby. “A third of single parents experience poverty, and of those single parents 80-90 percent are women. The same goes for older people. Women tend to live longer and they don’t have as much savings and security backup as men, so they are often poorer.”
EU action plan
The EU strategy to eradicate or at least reduce poverty is to offer Members States a framework for action. This strategy includes developing a plan to encourage “active inclusion” national policies, and to promote across Europe the exchange of good practices. The implementation of Europe’s equality and anti-discrimination laws also aims to hoist women out of poverty onto a level playing-field.
In most EU member states, 17% of women experience poverty compared to 15% of men. Among single parents 35% live in poverty. The provision of child-care is often inadequate, and maternity leave is not fairly shared between genders with the result that women lose earnings over this period.
Women in seven EU countries earn 20% less than men in equivalent jobs. The pay gap between men and women throughout their working lives inevitably leaves women with smaller pensions. Currently, 36.8% of women between the ages of 55 and 64 are employed, compared to 55% of men, and European women are four times more likely than men to have part-time jobs, fixed-term contracts or no contracts at all. As a result, some 35% of women aged over 65 risk poverty, compared to 16% of older men.
Root causes
The gender pay gap has various causes, including stereotyping that starts at school. Girls may choose educational directions that lead to jobs traditionally seen as women’s work, like nursing, teaching infants or as supermarket cashiers. These professions are generally poorly paid.
Women in more competitive environments may find they hit the so-called “glass ceiling” that bars them from managerial and top positions. Women are also more likely than men to take unpaid breaks from work to raise children or care for elderly relatives. All these situations can lead to poverty in old age.
In all age groups, women face a much higher risk than men of poverty after a separation, divorce of death of their partner. Furthermore, women in all the more vulnerable groups like the disabled, immigrants, ethnic minorities or those living in rural areas are more likely to experience poverty than men.
The economic crisis is likely to see figures for unemployment increase sharply, particularly among public sector workers where women are heavily represented. Funding for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and equality bodies is already being cut in some EU countries, like Ireland. Women will have less places to turn to for assistance.
“It is still too early to see the gender dimension of the recession,” says Barrington-Leach. “At first it seemed to mainly affect men in the car and construction industries, but women are being hit in different ways as they are more economically vulnerable to start off with. Plans for recovery from the recession also offer an opportunity to improve women’s economic lot.”
