Economic Crisis, Gender Equality, and Policy Responses in Spain and Canada

Abstract

Spain and Canada were pursuing divergent political agendas before the 2007–09 global economic crisis and subsequent recession: Canada's conservative government, elected in 2006, had begun reducing the size of government by slashing revenues, while Spain's social democratic government (2004–11) aimed to increase social inclusion and gender equality. Using women's shares of market (labor and capital) incomes and after-tax incomes as equality indicators, this study analyzes the probable gender impact of each country's policies during the global economic crisis. The authors find that, although both countries were signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979; CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action (1995), neither lived up to these commitments to undertake gender-based analyses when developing crisis interventions; but if Spain's policies had been maintained, they would have had less damaging effects on women in the long term than those implemented in Canada.