The feminisation of underemployment
Women's lives in the new global economy
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* France Full employment and stable contracts are the new utopia. Governments and management are welcoming back the world of a hundred years ago, declaring that unemployment and underemployment are necessary. The enforcement of the Maastricht Treaty's criteria only hastens this development. And as always, women are first in line. Myosotis Walner Despite their clear desire to continue working, women's right to a job is continually challenged. In any period of economic crisis, the old reactionary cry concerning women workers who "steal" heard again.
So far, all initiatives -hidden or up front- to create pay for motherhood, thus excluding women from the paid workforce outside the home, have failed to reverse our entry into the workforce. But for how long? France's new Parental Educational Aid for mothers who stay at home has already contributed to a worrisome decrease in the percentage of mothers with a second child active in the workforce, from 75 %
In 1995, the French workforce was comprised of 11.5 million women and 14 million men. The incredible increase in the number of women -an additional 5 million since the beginning of the 1960s- is the result of the growth of the service sector. But this sector, where women have traditonally been concentrated, is today being transformed by a wave of unemplovment and underemployment. Today in France, 10 million workers are unemployed. under-employed, or kept out of the job
Chômeuse, précaire - comme ma mère
Unemployed, under-employed
- Like my mother before me
Women are between 52% and 58% of the French unemployed, although official methods of calculating these figures are suspect, since they only take into account those who have no job at all and are currently looking for full-time work. Moreover, women are unemployed longer than men. In March 1994, nearly 600,000 women had already been unemployed for affected categories are women blue collar and clerical workers, whose rates of unemployment are, respectively, 20.8% and
15.7%. Even with a technical high school diploma (CAP), women comprise 15% of the unemployed, while men with the same qualifications account for 10%.
Young women do not escape this trend, with a 32% unemployment rate versus
23% for young men. The unemployment rate for all youth under age 25 is 27%.
Aside from bosses' attacks and repressive government policies (including under social democratic governments) of deregulation and work flexibility, we are seing the right gain ground ideologically on the question of part-time work. From the early 80s legislation encouraging part-time work to the 1995 Accord on the annualisation of working hours and flexibility, the spread of part-time work has escalated. The Netherlands and Britain are the "models" for absorbing unemployment through generalisation of part-time jobs. Since these jobs are taken as a last resort rather than freely chosen, women are virtually restricted to part-time work, while only pathetic attempts are made to provide care and services for their children. Women are 85% of the part-time
Part-time work is nothing more than part-time unemployment, a fraction of a wage. Take-home pay is usually hardly more than France's minimum social security payment for those without unemployment insurance; about 2,400 F (US$ 407) per month. Young women represent 29% of part-time workers. Young men represent only 12%.
More than half of the women who hold part-time jobs work in the service sector, sales, hotel and restaurant work, all the sectors suffering most from the current recession. This, however, does not prevent employers from pressuring them for overtime hours to meet seasonal variations, counting on women's need to earn more.
In the public sector, although Wednesdays" [the right to time off without pay on Wednesdays, when schools close at lunchtime] taken primarily by women, are certainly not being squeezed, as in the private sector, the practice still confirms the traditional division of gender roles. In the public sector, women's participation in part-time work is also higher than men's. One quarter of women in the lowest category, "C"-grade jobs work part time, compared to only 10% of women in the higher civil service ranks "A" and "B.".
Temporary contracts (CDD) developed enormously in the early 90s. By March
1995 they accounted for 70% of new jobs and 56.4% of other new contracts.
number of temporary contracts of less than a month's duration rose 40% between
1994 and 1995. The number of one to sixmonth contracts rose 21%, while the number of temporary contracts of more than half-a-year fell by 8%.
Although the number of cashier and miscellaneous service jobs (held primarily by women under the age of 30) rose by 40% between 1982 and 1990, the level of unemployment in the sector is still an above-average 17%.
The number of recorded jobs as household workers (maids, child-care providers, cooks, etc.) dropped 13% between 1982 and 1990. This leaves a declared workforce of 180,000, dominated by women over 40. The unemployment rate has reached 16%, a large proportion of which represents long-term unemployment.
Sales and secretarial work are also under heavy fire. Even though the number of job seekers under 25 in these two categories is higher than the average, young women here are more likely to get part-time work than young men.
In addition, young men in this sector often obtain work with a contractual guarantee of training or retraining, while young women are offered short-term "dole plus" contracts that make no provision for Underpaid and under-protected
Women's financial independence, already in jeopardy given wage differentials, becomes even more precarious in a period of unemployment.
million unemployed workers receive social insurance benefits. Half get about 3,000 F ($500) per month. Four out of five receive less than 5,000 F. However, 44% of the unemployed receive no social insurance benefits at all. The situation is particularly bad for young workers. In December 1995, out of a total of 850,000 unemployed workers from 18 to 25 years of age, 550,000 were not eligible for a single welfare payment. Among the unemployed in the 30s-age bracket, 50% of men receive no assis-
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION more than a year, compared to 500,000 men. The situation in other European
Union countries is similar.
Sociologist Margaret Maruani accurately describes this situation as female
"hyper-unemployment" ' The worst-
10 International Viewpoint #296
Penny Duggan & Heather Dashner (editors)
George Balafas acquitted, but not cleared
After being in and out of jail for 10 has no right to claim compensation for years, George Balafas emerged from the amount of time he spent behind bars.
December 1st. Three judges and four the charges against him, under pressure
Greece
Korydallos prison as a free man on civilian jurors overturned his 10-year
Europe *
Balafas said police conspired to bring from Washington. The 1996 US State conviction for complicity in bloody Department Report on World Terrorism attacks in the Eighties carried out by the left terrorist group Anti-State Struggle.
The appeals judge said doubt over Balafas' guilt had emerged due to conflicting witness accounts and forensic evidence. On the weapons charges, the civilian jurors all voted in contradiction to the judges, saying there was not enough evidence to justify conviction.
specifically praised the Greek government for his conviction!
The police became so overzealous in pinning terrorist charges on their suspects, after their lack of success in hunting down urban guerrillas belonging to groups like November 17 and the
Revolutionary Popular Struggle (ELA - which police think developed out of the
Although Balafas was acquitted, he Anti-State Struggle group. * was not cleared of the charges, and so Source: Athens News <http://athensnews.doinet.gr/> tance, compared to 60% of women.
Young women living apart from their
Leaks in the Polder (model) family face the worst change in their standard of living, because they are the least likely to be eligible for unemployment insurance.
All of these factors reinforce the continuing impoverishment of women (especially with the emergence of single-parent families, mostly consisting of single women with children:
Lacking the means to pay for day care and school meals, women find themselves once again responsible for raising children, and thus less available than men for most efforts at job seeking. Shorter hours, but what conditions?
In a situation of unemployment and underemployment, the left demand for a 32-hour work week with no loss in wages, with appropriate jobs, is particularly relevant for women. The creation of suffi-