Abstract
ABSTRACTResponses to the Great Recession are varied across welfare states and gendered in their consequences. Combining gender, social policy and social movement scholarship, this paper investigates how the differential policy responses to the Financial Crisis in three European countries shaped gender-differences in anti-austerity demonstrations. We compare the involvement and characteristics of women and men in anti-austerity protests using data collected at street demonstrations (2010–2012). We conduct cross-national multi-level analysis of demonstrators from countries representing different gender regimes (Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom). Our results show that gender regimes have a significant impact on women’s and men’s involvement in anti-austerity protests. We thus make an important contribution to research on gender differences in participation in anti-austerity demonstrations post-Great Recession. Our comparison of women’s and men’s participation in anti-austerity street demonstrations suggests that at the country or regime level resources matter more than grievances, but that grievances matter at the individual level. This innovative paper links scholarship on gender regimes with research on protest participation. Resources and experiences of grievances are shaped by gender regimes which provide access to decision-making and social support. We reveal novel insights into the connection between gender regimes and demonstration participation.
Highlights
Introduction and overviewThe financial crisis, which began in 2008 with the collapse of the US American Bank Lehman Brothers, was at first labelled a ‘mansession’, initially affecting men working in the private sector (Walby, 2015, p. 76)
In our cross-national study of anti-austerity demonstrators in Spain, Sweden and the UK, we investigate whether unequal gender participation of men and women in anti-austerity protests is best explained by the gender regime in which the demonstration took place, by individual characteristics of demonstrators, or by both
Our analysis makes an important contribution to research on gender differences in antiausterity demonstration participation post-Great Recession and to the understanding of women in protests other than the women’s movement
Summary
Introduction and overviewThe financial crisis, which began in 2008 with the collapse of the US American Bank Lehman Brothers, was at first labelled a ‘mansession’, initially affecting men working in the private sector (Walby, 2015, p. 76). Anti-austerity activism includes multiple forms and claims and represents some continuity with global justice movements (Della Porta, 2017a). It encompasses industrial action, demonstrations of labour unions, the formation of radical left parties and the collective occupation of public space (Hayes, 2017). We only analyse anti-austerity movements from the left (cf Della Porta, 2015) even though we acknowledge that right-wing populist movements represent a significant response to neoliberalism and austerity (Roth, 2018). We lack data for comparison, we suspect that the gender dynamics of anti-austerity movements from the left differ from those of right-wing populist movements
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