Raül Romeva i Rueda

Inicio avui una sèrie de comentaris en relació a l’informe que el Parlament Europeu m’ha encomanat que lideri (sóc el que en terminologia europarlamentària es coneix com ‘el ponent’). El tema, aquest cop, és L’impacte de gènere de la crisis econòmica i financera (Gender impact of the economic and financial crisis). La meva idea és avaluar l’impacte de la crisi en les dones i en les polítiques amb perspectiva de gènere, però al mateix temps plantejar com des d’aquestes polítiques podem contribuir a crear oportunitats per afrontar i sortir de les crisis actuals.

El calendari previst és el següent: el 23 de febrer he de presentar un primer document de treball a la Comissió FEMM (drets de Dones i Igualtat d’Oportunitats), el 15/16 de març farem la primera doiscussió, a FEMM, de la meva proposta d’informe, el 7 d’Abril votarem l’informe, encara a FEMM, i finalment el tema anirà a debat i votació a la sessió plenària de 17-20 de maig.

A partir d’avui aniré penjant alguns textos, reflexions i documents que considero pertinents per a l’el.laboració de l’informe. Començo avui amb el treball de Bethan Emmet, d’Oxfam UK, sobre com les dones són les qui paguen el preu més alt de la crisi global (Women Workers Pays the Price of the Global Crisis).

Paying the Price for the Economic Crisis

Women workers in the developing world are paying a heavy price as the global economic crisis unravels their rights, their livelihoods, and their families? welfare ? with knock-on effects that could last for generations.

By Bethan Emmett,  Oxfam GB


Introduction ? women workers: the development engine of the world

New research by Oxfam International uncovers a hidden aspect of the global economic crisis ? its impact on women. In February 2009, we spoke with women in global supply chains in ten countries across Asia and Latin Americaabout how the crisis is affecting their lives and their families. Their stories are sobering; they reveal the human, female face of a crisis that is too often discussed in terms of economic statistics rather than real lives.

Oxfam?s research suggests that global markets are pushing the costs of mistakes made in rich countries onto women and children in poor countries. As supply chains are squeezed by falling global demand, women in export manufacturing are often first to be laid off, with employers leaving pay outstanding and evading legal obligations to give notice and pay compensation, and governments turning a blind eye, with devastating knock-on effects. Last year, women?s wages were putting food on the table and children through school in millions of families. Now, the lives of women who were already vulnerable and exploited have become even more precarious ? and with them, the lives of their children.

This paper is a snapshot of the gender impact of the crisis in one sector ? export manufacturing ? but the impact on women is likely to be much wider. As global demand, access to credit, and aid flows fall, developing countries are experiencing declines in growth, export income, and remittances, putting pressure on public spending on health, education, and social safety nets. Women and children will bear the brunt of these cutbacks; in many countries, women are primarily responsible for looking after the family, yet have the least income with which to do so. For example, the World Bank has highlighted that women in 33 countries ? almost half of them in sub-Saharan Africa ? are highly vulnerable to the effects of the economic crisis, and predicts increases in infant and child mortality, less girl schooling, and reduced earnings. There is an urgent and critical need to monitor the gender impact of the crisis and ensure that governments are responding to the needs of women ? both in the labour market and at home.

Oxfam International is producing a range of research and materials about how the economic crisis is affecting people living in poverty ? available on the Oxfam GB website http://www.oxfam.org.uk/g20. (segueix…)

Women?s jobs are first to go

?First the company reduced our pay, then we lost our jobs. They have refused to pay us severance or other benefits. Since I lost my job sometimes we eat only once or twice a day. I don?t know what to do, we are just camping in front of the factory gates, waiting for the company to pay us.? Ms Kry Chamnan, Cambodia.

?About 1,700 people used to work here and all are unemployed now. Many women were pregnant, many are ill and are left with nothing. It?s been three months since the factory closed and we haven?t been paid anything, no severance, no social fund payments.? Ana Ruth Cerna, El Salvador.

?My factory retrenched 150 workers including me. I?m 35 years of age and I?m too old to join another factory. I?m in deep trouble, thinking about how to live with my two children.? Lalitha, Sri Lanka.

Paying the Price for the Economic Crisis, Oxfam International Discussion Paper, March 2009.

These stories are not unusual. The International Labour Organization (ILO) predicts that the global economic crisis will plunge a further 22 million women into unemployment, make female unemployment higher than male unemployment, and make the ratio of women pushed into insecure jobs this year higher than for men.

Women workers are the backbone of industries that have been hit hard by the global economic crisis: export manufacturing, garments, electronics, and services. Women constitute around 60?80 per cent of the export manufacturing workforce in developing countries, a sector the World Bank expects to shrink significantly during the crisis.5 These women are concentrated in insecure jobs with meagre earnings and few rights; they tend to have few skills and only basic education. When the going gets tough, they are the first to be fired.

Research from Oxfam International and others shows some revealing trends about the size of job losses occurring:

? 700,000 clothing and textile workers in India lost their jobs in 2008.

? More than half of the 40,000 jobs lost in the Philippines come from export processing zones, where 80 per cent of workers are women.

? Sri Lanka and Cambodia have each lost 30,000 mostly female garment industry jobs to date ? in both countries, the garment industry accounts for at least half of export earnings.

? Nicaragua?s export processing zone, where female labour is prevalent, lost 16,000 jobs in 2008.

At the bottom of the heap are migrant women workers whose families back home will also suffer the consequences.



Foto: Migrant women workers push hand carts loaded with cow dung, which is used in place of fuel in rural areas, ahead of International Women’s Day, in Amritsar, India, Saturday, March 7. (AP Photo/ Altaf Qadri). Font: AP / Altaf Qadri