INTERNATIONAL POLICY ANALYSIS Austerity Policy from a Feminist Perspective The Spanish Case SONIA RUIZ GARCIA April 2014 „ „ Spain’s ranking in the Global Gender Gap Index dropped 14 places this year: from place 12 to 26. This disheartening statistic indicates that the austerity policies implemented by the Spanish government not only have an economic impact on citizens’ lives, but a gender and social one, too. In Spain, austerity policies have gone hand in hand with an erosion of democratic procedures and a return of women to ›traditional female positions‹. „ „ The conservative government has undertaken budget cuts and drastic policy reforms in areas such as the labour market, the welfare state and the public and judicial administration. These budget cuts have gone beyond the objectives of economic adjustment and intent, and are structurally changing the country’s socioeconomic model as well as the gender model built over the last few decades. And so, as a result of the labour reform approved in February 2012, unemployment increased by 491,000 men and 235,400 women from 2012 to 2013. „ „ Regarding the resources allocated for gender policies, feminist and women’s organ­isations denounced a reduction of 24 %. This cut only concerns specific gender measures, although the statistics only worsen when gender mainstreaming is taken into account and the welfare state is examined. This, in addition to the other depend­ency cuts, makes up a strategy to push women back into the home, promoting a reduction of their labour activity rate and generating more jobs available for men in the labour market. „ „ Feminist activists are demanding governmental action, but the changes not only need to take shape in legal and institutional form. More awareness-raising in gender equality is urged and policies should be accompanied by deep social transformation. The rise of progressive social movements in Spain makes space for new political agents to overcome the universal hegemonic ones and opens up new possibilities of interaction among movements and institutions.