Bernardo Coelho | Anália Torres

Gender, Work and Family: Fast forward or replay?

Is our aim to:Open the analytical and theoretical hypothesis that the financial crises might carry a particular gender order crises;Highlight a hidden rationality behind gender, work and family.

In contemporary context of economic downturn becomes pertinent to reassess previous analysis based several research projects assessing the interplay between gender values, the sphere of work and family life by exploring data from ESS (2002, 2004 and 2006).

In moments of uncertainty the reflexive character of European societies promotes not only debate around the economic and financialgrounding of the social world, but also provides a scenario for questioning some established regimes structuring social life, as the gender regimes.

1.Global masculinity main caracterists

2.Reassessing previous data

4.Economic downturn global masculinity downturn

3.Gender order: between conflicting trends

Particular institutions become dominant in world society.

Patterns of masculinity embedded in them become global standards.

Transnational business masculinity based on multinational corporations and global finance markets is the emergent dominant form of masculinity. Becoming a raw model for masculinity.

Recognize the existence international trade and global finance markets are inherently an arena of gender formation and gender politics. We can recognize the existence of a world gender order.

Masculinity formed in the globalized economy matrix is in a strong position to claim hegemony in the gender order – the context supplies dominance resources. Hegemony in contemporary gender order is connected with patterns of :- Trade; - Investment; - Risk; - Success; - Concentration of economic and cultural power.

Global masculinity main characterists

fast forwarding a scenario of passage from more traditional gender values towards gender equality and, paradoxically, replaying older gender inequalities

Reassessing previous data

1,0

1,5

2,0

2,5

3,0

3,5

4,0

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agree strongly

disagree strongly

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1,5

2,0

2,5

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3,5

4,0

4,5

5,0

Nor

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men w omenSeries3

agree strongly

disagree strongly

A person’s family ought to be his or her main priority in life

Men should take as much responsibility as women for the home and children

ESS (round 2)

2004 ESS (round 2) 2004

A woman should be prepared to cut down on her paid work for the sake of her family

When jobs are scarce, men should have more right to a job than women

1,00

1,50

2,00

2,50

3,00

3,50

4,00

4,50

5,00

Norw

aySw

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Finlan

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Fran

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Hung

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Esto

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Spain

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Men Women

strongly agree

agree

strongly disagree

agree

neither agreenor disagree

disagree

1,00

1,50

2,00

2,50

3,00

3,50

4,00

4,50

5,00

Norw

aySw

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Finlan

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Fran

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Men Women

strongly agree

agree

strongly disagree

agree

neither agreenor disagree

disagree

ESS (round 2)

2004 ESS (round 2)

2004

4.0

12.3

23.8

4.3

16.8

12.9

21.0

7.8

9.9

15.4

23.5

21.9

26.0

22.6

32.2

18.2

20.0

24.5

26.1

39.0

36.2

35.5

35.1

27.4

71.2

56.1

57.7

46.0

48.8

65.3

57.9

54.1

60.1

37.4

48.9

52.4

47.2

58.6

52.5

64.6

61.1

50.9

51.6

53.3

58.3

52.1

59.1

66.4

24.9

31.6

18.6

49.7

34.4

21.7

21.1

38.1

30.0

47.1

27.6

25.6

26.8

18.8

15.3

17.2

18.9

24.7

22.3

7.7

5.4

12.3

5.7

6.2

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Greece

Portugal

Spain

Ukraine

Estonia

Slovakia

Slovenia

Poland

Czech Republic

Hungary

Ireland

Sw itzerland

Luxembourg

Belgium

Netherlands

Austria

Germany

France

United Kingdom

Iceland

Denmark

Finland

Sw eden

Norw ay

Equalitarian Intermediary Conservative

11.6

17.5

27.0

10.3

29.1

22.3

34.4

22.9

19.2

19.1

37.6

24.6

36.8

29.6

34.0

29.6

32.9

32.5

34.1

53.0

45.1

46.6

46.4

39.5

66.7

54.4

47.7

47.6

40.3

55.5

45.9

40.9

49.9

38.1

38.3

50.1

38.9

49.5

56.6

53.1

46.8

42.1

43.6

35.4

50.8

44.5

46.7

52.9

21.6

28.1

25.3

42.1

30.6

22.3

19.7

36.2

30.8

42.8

24.1

25.3

24.3

20.9

9.4

17.2

20.3

25.4

22.3

11.6

4.1

9.0

6.8

7.6

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Greece

Portugal

Spain

Ukraine

Estonia

Slovakia

Slovenia

Poland

Czech Republic

Hungary

Ireland

Sw itzerland

Luxembourg

Belgium

Netherlands

Austria

Germany

France

United Kingdom

Iceland

Denmark

Finland

Sw eden

Norw ay

Equalitarian Intermediary Conservative

Men

ESS (round 2) 2004

Equalitarian, intermediary and traditional, by country and sex

33.2

40.7

41.4

40.8

46.1

30.2

28.7

26.8

24.2

33.3

26.1

31.1

23.3

31.7

17.6

14.9

15.6

28.6

17.5

24.1

8.1

25.4

15.3

8.3

59.9

53.0

48.1

54.4

44.3

47.5

46.3

53.5

58.6

54.9

54.0

43.3

51.2

42.8

37.8

54.6

47.3

51.2

60.8

43.8

47.0

52.7

55.1

68.7

6.9

6.3

10.6

4.7

9.7

22.3

25.0

19.6

17.2

11.9

19.9

25.6

25.5

25.6

44.6

30.5

37.1

20.3

21.7

32.1

44.9

21.9

29.6

23.1

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Norway

Sweden

Finland

Danemark

Iceland

United Kingdom

France

Germany

Austria

Nederlands

Belgium

Luxemburg

Switzerland

Ireland

Hungary

Czech Republic

Poland

Slovenia

Slovakia

Estonia

Ukraine

Spain

Portugal

Greece

Equalitarian Intermediary Traditional

Women

Women are more modern na equalitarian than men.

Men concern with expressive dimension of life as a new dimension for symbolic gains – equalitarian at ideological level (equal responsabilities home and children)

Women, across Europe, transform private life and gender social relations.

Global masculinity as a dificult relation with gender equality trends

Men feel in a threatened position - women ascendent.

There is no equivalence between a solid confidence on men’s position in the world and what their actual power and wealth might show.

Conflicting trends:

Women - change

Men – unconfortable conservation

Contibuting for dominant intermediary position across countries and between men and women.

ChildlessUntil 35

Pré-school/School

childrenChildless 36-

50Childless >

50 Total

Men

Women

Men

Women

Men

Women

Men

Women

Men

Women

Hours spent on paid work

69 69 65 73 69 67 70 73 68 70

Source: EB 60.3 and CCEB 2003

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

Nor

way

Swed

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Finl

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Den

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Icel

and

Uni

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Working-age man Fathers Mothers w orking-age w omen Mean

Satisfaction with the various spheres of life, by life course and sex(%)

Hours worked weekly by working age men and women, fathers and mothers with children under the age of 12

0,000,501,001,502,002,503,003,504,004,505,005,506,00

Norw

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Swed

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Finl

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Denm

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UK

Germ

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Fran

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Hung

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Cypr

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Spai

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Port

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Interesting(men) Stressful (men)Interesting(women) Stressful (women)

How much of the time do you find your job interesting and stressful

Clear female presence on the labour market.Equal patterns of satisfaction and stress in work between men and women.

Fathers work longer hours – persistence of traditional investment in professional career after children born.Self-perception as family providers. Goes along with global masculinity based on economic rationality.This masculine attitude contradicts the ideal of male entrance in the domestic sphere and gender equality in family.

ChildlessUntil 35

Pré-school/School

childrenChildless

36-50Childless >

50 Total

Men

Women

Men

Women

Men

Women

Men

Women

Men

Women

Hours spent on household tasks

61 65 66 61 68 64 68 71 65 64

Division of household tasks 87 79 86 69 89 68 89 74 87 71

Source: EB 60.3 and CCEB 2003

Satisfaction with the various spheres of life, by life course and sex(%)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Nor

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Swed

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Finl

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Den

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Icel

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Fran

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Ger

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Men Women

People saying that they spend more than a half of the total time spent

by the household in the domestic tasks

0,00

0,50

1,00

1,50

2,00

2,50

3,00

3,50

4,00

4,50

5,00

5,50

6,00

Nor

way

Swed

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Finl

and

Den

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UK

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Spai

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Enjoyable (men) stressful (men)

Enjoyable (women) stressful (women)

How much of the time spent with your immediate family is enjoyable and stressful

The entrance of men in domestic realm gives men a new centrality in gender order. Men’s responsability towards home and children doens’t mean equality in the organization of houselhold tasks and responsabilities.

Women are less satisfaid with household tasks division – overburden situation.

However, both men and women perceive family time as enjoiable.

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20304050

607080

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No

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Fin

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about w omen about men

Have a full-time job while she/he has children aged under 3 (% approve + strongly

approve)

Clear different pattern for mothers and for fathers.

Persistent feminization of caring responsabilities.

For men there is no question:

Very strong approval across Europe.

For women:

Very high approval: Nordic (except Sweden);

Moderate approval: Belgium, Poland Slovenia, Spain, Portugal.

Very low approval: UK, Germany, Switzerland, Estonia, Russia.

0,00

10,00

20,00

30,00

40,00

50,00

60,00

70,00

80,00

90,00

100,00

Esto

nia

Hun

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Rus

sia

Slov

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Bul

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Switz

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Pola

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Ger

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Finl

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Nor

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Port

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Swed

en

ESS (round 3) 2006

Parenthood – work gender discrimination (%)

Family (and conections with work) as a gender regime produces normative ambivalence.

Gender equality values within family are clearly sustained by the majority of the Europeans while practices in the same domain point out to gender differences and inequalities.

1.Besides the hegemonic masculinity deconstruction and the emergence of new patterns of feminity (women’s labour market integration and men’s investment in domestic realm) persists the women’s association with domesticity and men’s association with the productive scenario.

According the requirements for a global hegemonic masculinity: - Identification of masculinity with the public realm and money economy and feminity with domesticity. - Strong pressures on domestic life - Executives are men - Dependent wives – image produced by media

Reproduces gender diferences and inequalities: long professional working hours and long home working hours (feminization). Inequalities in household tasks division.

2.Produces women with her own life-project: professional life, challanging the gender unequal matrix.

Women’s search for autonomy and gender equality

Gender order: between conflicting trends

Specific globalization: concentrates economic and cultural power, provides resources for dominance for men.

Trends in Economic racionality

Economic racionality speaks a gender-neutral language of markets, individuals and free-choice. But the world is gendered.

The individual of this economic world lives in a masculine symbolic economy: dividend for men acess to power, higher wages, acess to decision making positions.

Conditions for the production of a hegemonic masculinity on a world scale: dominant form of masculinity that embodies, organizes, and legitmate gender order and regimes.

Trends in family

Valuing feelings and emotions

Secularization

Individualization

The personal agenda for both men and women seems quite identical:

– having a job, being autonomous, having children or raising a family in different types of arrangements, sharing with partner those life events.

Indicator of financial crisis.Measures volatility in all markets and thus indicates investors movements to riskier investments (euphoria) or safer (panic). It is strongly related to risk perceptions of intervenients in the financial system.

Economic downturn and global masculinity downturn

With the breakdown of an economic rationality based on the free market may also partially crashed gender regimes based on the flows of the apparent gender neutral language of economics.

The determinant relation between gender normativity and power somewhat lost is symbolic and material supply. Because, hegemony in the contemporary gender order is connected with patterns of trade, investment, risk, concentration of economic and cultural power; these new resources for dominance lost one fundamental provider.