WOMEN OF THE SOUTH ' IN EUROPEAN INTEGRATION: Regions studied: Anatoliki Macedonia, Greece Marche, ItalY Catalonia, SPain Lisbon and Tagus ValleY, Portugal Dina Vaiou Zoe Georgiou Maria Stratigaki diotima Centre for Research on Women's Issues 2, Kekropos Street GR-10558 Athens Tel. +301 3244380 - Fax. +301 322n46 in collaboration with: Paola Vinay, Gabriella Melchiorre (Italy) Montserrat solsona, Leticia suarez, Rocio Trevino, Maria Jos6 Gon zdiez (SPain) Isabel Margarida Andr6, Cristina Ferreira, Maria Emilia Arroz (Portugal) Brussels, October 1991, Commission of the European Communities Equal Opportunities Unit - DG V'B'4 This document has been prepared for use within the Commission. It does not necessarily represent the Commission's official position. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page 1. INTRODUCTION 5 1. 1. Womeh's work - a definition 5 1. 2. The importance of place 7 1. 3. The regions under study I 1 . 4. Data col lect ion 13 1. 5. The stucly 17 2. THE DOMESTIC SPHERE 18 rends 18 2. 1 . DemograPh ic ,t 2. 2. Fami ly structure and divisions of labour 20 2. 3. Social infrastructures 21 3. EDUCATION AND YOCATIONAL TRAINING 27 3. 'l . Educat ion 27 3. 2. Vocational training 28 4. THE TERMS OF WOMEN'S INTEGRATION IN THE LABOUR MARKET 31 4. 1. Agriculture 3'1 4 . 2. l.ndust rY 33 4. 3. Serv i ces 35 4. 4. Atypical employment 36 4. 5. Unemployment and condit ions of pay 38 5.WOMEN'SORGANISATIONSANDPOLICIESFOREOUALITY4l 5. 1. Women's mobilisat ion 41 5. 2. Nat ional and local Pol icy 42 5. 3. EuroPean Commun i tY Po I i cY 44 47 6. COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 6. 1. The prospect of European lntegration 47 6. 2. An all-encompassing definition of work 49 6. 3. The geography of women's work and dai ly I ife 54 6. 4. A final comment 56 1 -l Appendix: GUIDELINES FOR DATA COLLECTION 58 REFERENCES 61 @ ANATOLIKI MACEDONIA, GREECE 63 1. Regional Product ive Structure 65 2. Populat ion 77 3. Fami ly Structure 83 4. Social Infrastructure 87 5. Educational and vocational training 94 6. Emp loyment 104 7. f{omen's mobi I isat ion 117 8. Nat ional and local pol icy 121 9. European Community Pol icy 124 Re fe r ences 126 Key F igures 128 MARCHE, ITALY 129 lntroduct ion: The l ta I ian context 13't 1. Regional Product ive Structure 135 2. Populat ion 145 3. Fami ly Structure 153 4. Social Infrastructure 157 5. Educational and vocational training 164 6. Emp loyment 173 7. l{omen's mob i I i sat ions 188 8. Nat ional and local pol icy for equal ity 191 9. European Community Pol icy 197 Refer ences 200 Key F igures 205 -2- CATALONIA, SPAIN 207 1. lntroduction,to the regional productive structu?'e 209 2. Populat ion 215 3. Fami ly Structure 223 4. Social infrastructure 229 5. Educat iona I and vocat iona I tra i n i ng 240 6. Employment 250 7 . l{omen's organ i sat ions 267 8. National and local policy for equality 269 9. European CommunitY Pol icY 273 L I SBON AND TAGUS VALLEY, PORTUGAL 277 1 . Reg iona I product i ve st ructure 279 2. Populat ion 283 3. Fami ly structure 291 4. Social lnfrastructure 299 5. Education and vocational training 305 6. Employment 313 7. lf,omen's organ i zat ions 327 8. National policies 329 9. European 9o I i cY 332 References 340 lnformat ion sources 342 -3- -4- The study examines u,omen's working and living conditions in the four Southern European countries (Greece, ltaly, Portugal and Spa.in) t- as they are changing in the context of the coming European Integrat ion i- in order to inform European Policy on the particular condition of womNn of the South. The study sees "work ing and I iving condit ions" as inseparable paf tls of women's daily and working lives. lt adopts a def inition of women's work that goes beyond of f icially registered formal employment and includes all forms of paid and unpaid labour (formal and informal employnlent' family, domestic and voluntary labour). The study also underlines the imoortance of olace for women's working and tiving conditions, baseld on the premise that tyomen, more than men , are t ied to part icular plaCeS. Hence there is emphasis on specific regions in Southern Europe1' as ,'cases" illustrating particular historical and geographical contexts in which to examine the prospects and problems that European lntegrit ion presents for women of the South. The study seeks to identify key issues that have become part of,i and determine, EC policy (as wblt as regional/ local and nat ional policy) in vigw of the social priorities set by EUropean Integration for soicial gurdpean cohes ion and ba I anced deve lopment among Member States and reg i'ons and of the Th ird Med ium-term Commun ity Act ion Programme ( 1991- 1995 ) on Equa I Oppor tun i t ies f or f{omen and Men . 1.1. Wom6n's lfork - a def inition ln the context of this study women's work is not restr icted to of f iicial emp loyment , but i nc ludes a | | f orms of women's I abour in soc iety , Llncler whatever cond i t ions and relations it is performed. For wqmen' paid definitions and experiences of work are much more cqmplex than emp loyment. They include processes and relations of work that perneate the who le of everyday life and cannot easily lit in dualist classifications: work/non-worl(, work i ng-t i ne/ le i sure-tiime, workp I acelhome . -5- The temporal and geographical boundaries of those classifications overlap and shift and cannot be adequately grasped by looking exclusivelY into employment categories of economic and statistical surveys On which policy is Usually based. For, in those surveys, the bulk of (unpaid) work that women do in the context of f amilies is considered as ,,non-work": domestic labourr, child-rearing, caring and emotionaI laboUr, but also "assistance" in family businesses or homeworking (Vaiou, Stratigaki, 1989). In Southern European countries in particular, measurement and evaluation of women'S work iS heavi ly Underest imated unless special attent ion iS paid to forms of work that are Out of the realm of "wage labgur"' Th6se inctude agricUltural work in fami ly farms, homeworking, fami ly helpers, unpaid domestic and caring labour, informal work in tourism, industry or personal services. The'importance of the informal labour market is very I ikely to increase' as a number of branches of production (such as texti les; clothing and footwear, toys), which employ a pr imar i ly f emale vrorkfOrCe, are exposed to very powerful internat iona I compet i t ion and resort to informa I activities aS a means of reducing prodUction.costs' In several regions of southern Europe the "ideal conditions" are present which favour the prol if erat ion of such act iv it ies - with important ef fects on women's paid employment prospects. In Southern European countries where the fami ly (nuclear or extended) is an important institution in social life, women's access tO paid work is dependent on it, to a large extent. In the gender divisions of labour (and power) within f amilies/ households, the bulk of domest ic and car ing labour is performed by women and determines their access to the labour market and the conditions under vJhich this is possible' The family conditions women's work not only when women have to choose between full or part-t ime work in the labour market, but also $/hen small family businesses are a dominant production unit in many branches (in agriculture, commerce and tourism) in Southern Europe. Patriarchal structures of families linked to religious and cultural traditions shape the economic and social terms of women'S work. This is neither a -6- ' i cannot be cont i nuous nor a contradi ct ion-free process; and t processes and d i ssoc i ated from the work i ngs of other re I evant pract i ces of i nst i tut ions, such as educat ion and tra i n i ng systems , location of jobs and organ i sed I abour , avai labi I ity and spatial al services. people' As women.,s tradit ional roles are very much I inked to car ing for social women,s work is shaped, to a large extent, by the existence of infrastrUcture which either "l ightens" or "ChargeS" Women'S dai lY l ife' caring Time Schedules of schoots and other institutions, availability of facilities for the sick and the elderly, care for trhe disabled' greatly labour' influence women's I ives and the terms of their access to paid A feature that is perhaps common and particuli publ ic countries is the absence of extensive and sufficiently flexible sociaIserviceswhichwouIdfacilitatewomen.s(andmen,s)accessto social paid employment and public life, In some cases, even existing services are partiat and fragmented and need to be complemented by (unpaid) domestic labour, performed mainly by women' 1.2. The importance of Place work in u'omen's combinat ions of dif f erent types and relat ions of experience of work- everyday I ives. - an al l-inclusive definition and shap€d over ties r{omen, more than men, to particular places which are branches of time by a number of processes. Differences in sectors and production;inthetypgsandsizeoffirms,inthetechnotogyused'in theformsofIabourrelations,areatlpartofthedefinitionofptace and, in turn, define quite diverse conditions of labour supply and demand.