Gender aspects of the effects of the economic downturn and financial crisis on welfare systems

Welfare States have been responding since the 1970s to increased social pressures, particularly population ageing and globalisation. This has encouraged policy makers, generally, to pursue cost containment in social expenditure causing the era to be known as the ‘era of permanent austerity’ (Pierson, 1998). Member States’ reactions to the economic crisis are shaped by the extent to which they had already reformed social welfare since the 1970s – some Nordic welfare states have experienced less ‘retrenchment’ than more ‘liberal’ market states such as the UK and Ireland. The economic crisis facing EU Member States began in 2007/8 following the collapse of the Lehman Brothers bank and American Housing market. There was a second phase of the crisis marked by a downturn in economic activity in the US which led to a global recession. The second phase, which largely commenced in 2010, was marked by a Sovereign Debt crisis in Europe, the effects of which are still significant today. The aim of this study is to highlight how reforms and crisis response measures, introduced following the economic crises, have affected women and gender equality, with specific reference to social welfare systems. First, the study provides a description of welfare systems and the mechanisms that may lead to retrenchment. The study goes on to describe population level patterns and trends at the EU level through an examination of EU level data sets. Then, through six in-depth case studies, the study provides a description of crisis response measures affecting social welfare systems in practice and how these have or may potentially affect gender equality.