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This article discusses the intersection of gender equality and the economy, highlighting the need for collaboration and dialogue between actors. It emphasizes the importance of integrating gender knowledge into policy-making and the impact of economic policies on gender equality. The article also explores the gendered understanding of the economy, the undervaluation of women's work, and the care deficit as an economic question. It suggests ways forward, including gender budgeting, a shift towards well-being goals in economic policy, and investing in social infrastructure. The article concludes by addressing the declining visibility of gender equality in the EU's budget and economic policies, and the need to reassess the EU's conceptualizations of the economy in relation to gender inequalities.
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Economy as a genderequalityquestionThe case of theEU’sbudget and economicpolicies Anna Elomäki Senior Researcher University of Tampere anna.elomaki@uta.fi @AnnaElomaki
Gender equality vs. economy • Gender equality and economy often seen as separate questions • Hierarchy: economy comes first • Collaboration between actors rare • Gender knowledge not taken into account in policy-making • Gender equality and the economy are part of the same coin • Economic policies have gendered impacts • Gender equality influences economic outcomes • Economy is a gender equality question: more dialogue and collaboration
Towards gender aware economic policy • Individual reforms (e.g. work life balance) not enough, need to rethink what the economy is • Economic policies are based on gendered background assumptions and hierarchies • These assumptions and hierarchies hide, legitimate and reproduce inequality
Gendered understanding of the economy • Unpaid work and its providers marginalized in mainstream understandings of the economy • Unpaid work mainly done by women: PT, IE and IT more than 70%, Finland 59% • Unpaid work increases well-being and makes the functioning of economy possible… • …yet not taken into account in national accounts and GDP • Unpaid work has significant value: In Finland would increase GDP by 41% (2012)
Gendered ideas of economic value • Systematic undervaluation of women’s work at micro and macro level • Pay differences between male and female dominated sectors and professions • Female-dominated sectors seen as less important and less useful for the economy than male-dominated sectors
Care as an economic question • In economic policy debate care mainly seen as economic cost • Unwillingness to pay for care: we are used in that someone cares for free or cheaply • Care has always costs for someone: when public care services are cut, costs are transferred to households • Feminist economics: ’reproductive economy’ as important part of the economy as ’productive economy’
Some ways forward • Gender budgeting • Goals of economic policy: from competitiveness to well-being, from budget deficits to care deficits • Taking unpaid work into account: measure value, impact assessments, sharing • Invest in social infrastructure
Gender equality in the EU’s budget • A small and declining share of EU funding • Disappearance of specific budgets for gender equality • Visibility of gender equality objectives in ESIF has gradually declined • Gender mainstreaming commitments = red tape? • Commitment to gender budgeting weak, but some progress made in annual budget process • Current negotiations on the MFF and funding programmes key moment for gender budgeting!
Gender equality in the EU’s economic policies and governance • Declining visiblity of gender equality in the EU’s economic strategies • Crisis has pushed gender knowledge into margins • Gendered effects of crises responses and policy recommendations not assessed • Integration of gender equality in the European Semester remains partial • Bigger question: what do the EU’s narrow conceptualizations of the economy imply for the identification and addressing of gender inequalities?
