Geschlechteranalysen und -diskurse in der Krise

Abstract

Abstract

Gender Relations and Gender Discourses in the Economic Crisis. The integration of women into markets, in particular the feminisation of employment and financialisation, has caused the male breadwinner model to erode, while gender inequalities remain. During the economic crisis of 2008/09 this conflicting tendency was reflected in a mixture of conservative, essentialist and neoliberal gender discourses on the root causes and impacts of the crisis. Going beyond the earlier pattern of research, which has highlighted how women have been adversely affected by the crisis, this article explores the empirical and discursive transformation of gender norms and roles during this period. Apart from its sector-, region- and gender-specific effects, the crisis has accelerated long standing tendencies regarding the flexibilisation of labour and precarisation of employment. The article agues that these developments have contributed to the emergence of a neoliberal form of gender equity; one which works to further topple breadwinner masculinity as well as stress the individual responsibility of women as market agents.