This
post argues that what is happening in the current Italian economic
crisis replicates tendencies already observed in the crises of the past
century that challenge the predominant argument of “women as a reserve
army”. Scholars have, indeed, shown how already during the Great
Depression until the most recent 1997 Asian financial crisis, women
labour participation did not follow the expectation of those who saw the
female workforce as being welcomed in times of expansion, but rejected
in economic contractions. On the contrary, the women labour
participation rate has increased without any kind of job competition
with men since men and women are normally hired following different
patterns. This post enlarges the perspective of the risk of a
male-female competition to a competition between foreign and Italian
women, in times of crisis.
