“The Gender of Social Policy” Book presentation by Maria Stratigaki

PRESENTATION

The book of Maria Stratigaki

“THE GENDER OF SOCIAL POLICY”

4 March 2008

Anna Karamanou

former MEP (Member of the European Parliament)

It is a special honor for me to present the latest book by the intellectual feminist and my good friend Maria Stratigaki. Personally, I do not claim to be a book critic, nor have I studied relevant theories.

However, I am able to appreciate the value of a scientific book, which is nevertheless comprehensible, extremely useful, and enjoyable to read for readers both within and outside the scientific community. This book will certainly not make M.S. wealthy, but it is certain that it makes all of us richer in knowledge and definitely wiser.

“The Gender of Social Policy“ is an important book because it dissects and examines the entire system of social protection and reveals the role of the state as a bearer of patriarchy and the influence of gender on the formation and development of social policy, as well as the way in which social reality and human relationships are shaped.

The fields where the role of gender is examined, from a theoretical and empirical perspective, are the family, household work and the provision of care services (the compulsory altruism of women), the balance between professional and personal life, the labor market – employment of women, institutional framework, social security – violence against women in all forms – domestic violence, sexual harassment, human trafficking, rape – as well as the gender dimension in contemporary economic migration.

The book is read in one breath. The conjunction of feminist theory with experience captivates you. Maria achieves her three main goals in the 230 pages of the book:

1/ highlights the gender construction of the state and social policy, which is either ignored or overlooked by social and political science, in theory and in practice. “Social policy is often considered to be gender-neutral and it is not fully recognized that every stage of its development is directly related to and influenced by prevailing perceptions…..”

2/ It investigates the ways in which the gender of social policy is expressed in specific areas, such as the content of legislation, funding sources, the type of measures, and the nature of the involved entities. It also examines the process of designing, developing, implementing, and evaluating laws and how gender norms and hierarchies are constructed and reproduced through this process.

3/ Reveals the direct and indirect effects that social policy measures and legislative regulations adopted in Greece had on women and gender equality.e.g. 15 years – conference 2001 – the example of Greece is very characteristic of how gender operates in the social protection system).

“Social security should enhance, not weaken, women’s employment and competitiveness, providing incentives for staying in the labor market rather than incentives for leaving. Arguments in favor of early retirement for women due to motherhood undermine women’s real interests, as very few women have minor children who need care after the age of 55. ^o year of age. The issue of “motherhood and minor children” should constitute a separate chapter of social policy and should not be intertwined with pension rights.”

Certainly, the legislation and guidelines of the EU are important for gender equality, as is the policy of gender mainstreaming; however, they are not sufficient to overturn the structural and institutional dynamics that continue to produce inequalities and divisions based on gender.

The devaluation of women’s labor, the division between productive and reproductive work, the hierarchy of genders, and patriarchal structures largely explain the inferior position of women in the social system and the increasing feminization of poverty.

Gender is used with two complementary concepts that have as a common theoretical background the gender society, as a social category and as a system of social relations of power, a bipolar system of power where dominance is identified with “masculinity” and manliness and subordination with femininity.

I note from page 30: “male power over women has been inscribed on the bodies of both sexes, resulting in it being accepted as a natural and not as a social condition.” That is, the examination of gender highlights the influence of “hegemonic masculinity” on the core of economic and social life, as well as on the theoretical framework.

Maria Stratigaki leverages and further develops the rich feminist theory and research that began robustly in the 1970s and continues to this day, within the framework of reflection on the role of the state in the oppression of women and the reproduction of anachronistic stereotypes.

Feminist theory certainly aims at changing, in theory and in practice, “masculinity,” in the areas and to the extent that it operates as an ideology justifying male dominance and the marginalization of women.

It is a fact that the knowledge produced is not objective and social policy (especially pension systems) is based almost exclusively on the experience of men.

It is very important to understand the asymmetry that exists in the economic and social position of men and women. Historically, the ties to the market – the public space – have been different for men and women. The structure of the market excluded women.

The market, historically, is identified with public life and “masculinity”, while “femininity” is associated with the realm of the private and the family.

Maria examines the main theoretical approaches regarding the role of the family, investigates the characteristics of the Greek family, and evaluates the laws that regulate family relationships. She highlights the unequal distribution of household labor between men and women and comments on the policies for reconciling work and family.

The labor market and employment policies, social security, and pervasive patriarchy come under criticism. Marital violence, rape, sexual harassment, and human trafficking are examined in depth, while there is also extensive reference to public policies.

The multiple discriminations faced based on gender and national origin by migrant women, particularly domestic workers, are analyzed and the issues of rights and social inclusion they encounter are highlighted.

The statistics and studies that document the claims on all topics, as well as the conclusions, the appendix, and the rich bibliography, are also significant.

The book, in short, constitutes a significant contribution both to science and to social struggles for the achievement of the obvious—equality and solidarity of the genders.