Inequalities between the sexes are once again evident in times of crisis. Women are the ones who suffer the most from unemployment, the difficulty in accessing a job and -once found- the worst economic conditions compared to men.
A study highlights that since 2009, coinciding with the start of the Spanish economic recession, more than half a million housewives have gradually entered the labor market.
In many cases, the husband’s unemployment or the difficulties to make ends meet were the trigger for thousands of women in their 40s, without studies or work experience, to start looking for a job.
Women’s jobs
Babysitters or dependent people, house or office cleaners and telephone operators have been the jobs that have absorbed this prototype of working woman the most. 100,000 women achieved it in 2009, 170,000 in 2010 and 195,500 in 2011. The upward trend was broken in 2012, the year in which only 60,000 housewives found a job. Far from seeming like a positive figure, the cause seems to lie in the greater difficulty they are now encountering.
Temporality and part-time or hourly work are two more handicaps that women now encounter. While last year a total of 15,200 men opted for part-time jobs to make them compatible with family or personal obligations, in the case of women that figure was much higher: 399,600. Furthermore, on many occasions, although the worker preferred to opt for a full-time job, she was unable to do so.
We already know that in the midst of a crisis, finding a job is complicated for both men and women. But once again, the data reveals that we get the worst of it.