Today all over Europe the social crisis is augmented and the financial decline goes much deeper. The European Union shifts the weights of the crisis to the people but we are well aware that it is the result of bank and stock exchanges speculation. The countries of the South are being impoverished and others face negative development and stagnation.
Capitalism attacks using means and norms that go back to the 19th century. Unemployment in the Eurozone has reached 10,4% of the active population. In the “vanguard” still remain Spain (22,9%) and Greece (20,9%). The wages are being reduced and cannot cover subsistence. Labour relations have become entirely flexible while, at the same time, part–time or semi- permanent employment increases, especially among women and young people. Moreover, collective contracts and labour laws are being abolished.
The welfare state belongs almost to the past. Kindergartens, day care for children and other social welfare institutions for the elderly and people in need are closing down. Public social insurance and health systems and pension are increasingly privatized while a lot of working people, especially female and male immigrants, have no social security. Overall, the weight of their cost becomes a burden for the working people.
Public goods such as education, health and culture are being privatized. The life expectancy limit is already reduced in some countries and education becomes a field of class discrimination. EU neoliberal policies lead working men, women and families to poverty and distress. Women, young people and immigrants are the greatest victims of all. Unemployment affect more women than men, it not only reduces the family income, but also reduces female financial independence. As a result, it renders them more vulnerable to unequal relations and patriarchal power in the framework of family and society.
Therefore the demand for decent and social secured work remains vital
Even in the case of the reduced wages women often get paid less than men. There are cases that women working in part time jobs receive a “salary” of the amount of 100 – 200 euros per month.
Consequently the demand for “equal pay for equal work” still remains an imperative need.
The lack of social care institutions becomes a burden for the women now forced to take care of the household, the children and the elders. On the other hand, women pensions are smaller than those of men because women have interrupted working lives, they constitute the majority of employees in insecure jobs and many of them are uninsured.
Today as never before witnesses the importance of the public welfare state as a backup for Gender Equality
Because the austerity measures responsible for impoverishing society are being imposed with bullying, blackmailing and penalization of the social struggles, female presence in the public space is under the threat of being further curtailed.
The struggle for democracy is an organic part of the struggle against the dictatorship of the banks and monetary funds
The war against society that the “new financial government” of the EU declared has also multiplied violent acts. Women more often become the victims of sexual attacks in the streets, are being terrorized and sexually harassed in their working places, and domestic violence is also increasing. The increase of violent acts can be explained as yet another social consequence of the neoliberal crisis. This of course does not justify the perpetrators of violence.
The struggle for the elimination of the violence against women is now even more imperative
The neoliberal propaganda uses the 19 ^th century argument that women should return to their houses so as to allow men to work. Trying to put women and men workers into competition. It promotes a family model which is convenient to the capital's interests and is also enhanced with other backward measures which diminish women's control over their bodies, such as the denial of sexual and reproductive rights.
But we believe that women won’t go home. Our belief is reinforced by facts, such as the female massive active participation in the struggles against austerity, in the solidarity movement and all the other social struggles.
While struggling against neoliberal capitalism we also struggle for democracy, social justice and equal gender relations.