Recession Seen Taking Toll On Gender Equity

So much for all the hype about the He-session and The End of Men. As an article in the NYTs points out, the net effect of the recession and all the political steps taken to address it and deficits will increase the disparity in the economic status between men and women.

England has been undergoing budget cuts similar to those we will undoubtedly enact and the data on the impact of cuts there are instructive. Women bare the brunt of numerous government actions. First of all, cuts to public sector jobs disproportionately affect women as they are a higher percentage of the public versus the private sector. Even if their jobs are not cut, freezes in wages for public sector jobs are widespread and will ultimately hurt women more than men. Then there are the cutbacks in basic services. For example, child care and health care cutbacks clearly affect women’s employment disproportionately especially for those single parents who are much more dependent on them. Single parents are overwhelmingly females.

The sum total of these and other cuts in England is devastating to women and it is estimated that 72% of the savings to the government “have come out of women’s pockets”.  We have little reason to believe that the impact will be different in the U.S.

The conspiracy believer in me thinks that this is conscious or maybe unconscious payback for women gaining on men educationally and economically. Or maybe it is just that primarily male politicians don’t care or don’t have a feel for women’s lives that are so different than their own. Cuts to the military and to corporate perks such as oil and agriculture subsidies are off the table, why?

Where is the outcry? Where is the outrage? Are we just all beaten down by all that is coming at us? As long as politicians are not afraid of the political consequences of inflicting so much of the economic and culture war pain on women, we can expect more of the same.

-Fran

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