Barriers to be overcome” “

Only in Sweden, Denmark and Finland are women real protagonists of change and promoters of social transformations. In the rest of Europe, albeit with significant differences between one State and another, women do not enjoy the same opportunities for personal, social and professional growth as men. But significant lessons can be learned in this respect from the ten new member countries of the EU. That is the conclusion reached by RENATA LIVRAGHI, professor of economics at the University of Parma (Italy) and author of the dossier on “Women in Europe – Differences and opportunities” contained in the last number of the Italian monthly “Famiglia oggi” to which the International Centre for Family Studies (ICFS) contributes. “Building a society based mainly on knowledge and social cohesion”, as indicated by the European Council in Lisbon (in March 2000), “implies the overcoming of the barriers that exclude many women from the job market and from decision-making positions”, says the economist. THE INDICATORS. The indicators analysed by Renata Livraghi in her dossier are pro capite income and the index of human development. “The first – she explains – measures the quantity of goods and services which each individual could have at his/her disposal, if the income produced were to be distributed fairly”; the second “integrates this information by measuring the results achieved in a country in terms of the three fundamental dimensions” of the so-called “theory of capacities: longevity, knowledge, income” and is given by their average. To these should be added “the index of gender development” that reflects “the inequalities between men and women in the three above-mentioned dimensions of human development”, and “the measure of gender empowerment” that gauges the opportunities enjoyed by the female population in active participation in society, politics and economic life. THE FIFTEEN…In Europe the position of women is equal to that of men in Sweden (the third country in the world in the human development index), France (in 17th place in the world classification), Italy (in 21st place), Portugal and Greece; it is worse in Holland (despite the fact that it is the fifth country in the world in terms of human development index), Belgium (6th in the classification), Ireland, Luxembourg and Spain. This is a picture that reveals how “some European countries have favoured a ‘fair’ process of economic development that does not accentuate the difference between men and women, whereas others have given no particular importance to equal opportunities between individuals of different gender”. … AND THE TEN NEW MEMBERS. The ten new member states of the EU present a case in themselves. Their human development index is lower than the EU average: from the 27th place in the world classification occupied by Slovenia to the 50th place of Latvia. These data demonstrate, however, according to Livraghi, that, in contrast to Luxembourg, Ireland, Ireland, Austria, Denmark, Germany and Italy, “where economic growth has been pursued in a manner distinct from the process of economic development”, in these countries of Eastern Europe “the income produced, even if low, has been used to improve the quality of life of persons”. This is a “very significant” model of development because “it demonstrates that huge resources are not needed to invest in persons” and that, above all, “it has not penalized the conditions of life of women”. In Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia and Latvia, the female participation in social, political and economic life even “takes precedence over that of Italian women”. WHAT DEVELOPMENT MODELS? While European women enjoy, on average, greater life expectancy and higher educational levels than men, a further “penalization” is identified by Livraghi “in the differences of income received”. Women citizens in Luxembourg earn most (29,569 dollars) against the 10,833 dollars of women in Greece, but what is most indicative here are the “income differentials” between men and women, which again reveal the highest levels in Luxembourg, where men receive 49,154 dollars more than women, and which are also marked in Ireland and Italy. Male and female incomes in Finland and Sweden, on the other hand, are “similar” in amount. “Women in Europe – concludes the economist – have lesser ‘capacity’ than men” and this is to be attributed “to a persistent division of sexual roles in the family and in society as a whole: men dedicated prevalently to productive activities on the labour market, women to family activities and bringing up children”, especially in Ireland, Luxembourg, Spain, Italy and Greece where the rate of female employment is less than 40%. Significant percentages of active participation in the life of society are only registered in Sweden, where 45.3% of MPs, 30% of senior managerial and civil service posts and 49% of self-employed professionals are women. The levels of female participation are also high in Denmark and Finland. There is therefore, in Livraghi’s view, a need to promote new development and participation models able to “foster the female contribution to the labour market and reconcile work at home with professional employment”.