Young Women, Employment and Precarity: The Face of Two Periods of Crisis in Spain (2008–2021)

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments

One of the biggest inequalities of capitalist and patriarchal society is inequality at work. From this perspective, there are two types of division of labor that come together. On the one hand, the vertical division of labor: the higher we go up in the functional and power hierarchy, we tend to find fewer women. This puts women at a disadvantage compared to men in terms of wages, working conditions and career advancement opportunities. On the other hand, the horizontal division of labor places women more concentrated in particular types of work, with an accentuated expression in professions associated with caring for others, such as, e.g., teachers, nurses, cleaning workers, that is, socialized forms of work. Primarily domestic work. The more feminized professional sectors tend to have lower salaries. The combination of these two characteristics leads, historically and socially, to the creation of a gap between men and women in the world of work: in access to work, in training, in wages and in labor rights.

The structural adjustment policies of 2008 were necessary, as were those originating from Covid-19. It affected the entire population, especially the most defenseless. If nothing had been done from an economic and financial point of view, such as aid, e.g., from the IMF, the ECB, the World Bank and the EU, everything would have been much worse. Structural adjustment was inevitable. Precariousness continues due to the European social model that is long outdated. The ineptitude of European leaders does the rest, for the worse, with the EU withering away. Spain does not escape from this scenario. Women were the most penalized and, even worse, the youngest. The next young women will continue to face this scenario due to excessive European bureaucracy and a lack of effectiveness of European policy makers. Are you surprised by the expression “a-thousand-euro wage”? I don't understand that with the EU management model that causes it, whether in Spain or in many other countries in the Union.

Furthermore, uncertainty does not only involve the EU and not only the Northern Hemisphere. It is the inevitable intergenerational process that has always been at work throughout the world.

There are more women unemployed and they remain in this condition longer than men. There are more women with precarious ties than men. In the field of work, precariousness is linked to the lack of dignities and guarantees for women. Labor relations are governed by laws that guarantee certain rights to workers. When the work is informal, this restraint or support is lacking, so they start to suffer from precariousness.

The two crises of this century (2008 and the Covid-19), the salary ratio corrected by the Consumer Price Index is only one of the points of view of the approach to the question that this article intends to investigate. Nevertheless, it is a research initiative that contributes to the study of this socially very serious matter.

Victims of job insecurity are very likely to suffer from mental illness, in the same way that they tend to suffer from physical health problems, all due to the lack of stability to which their jobs subject them. The behavior of an employee in society who suffers from this uncertainty is altered by the insecurity generated by not having a job that satisfies their basic needs.

In 2020, women in the EU were earning, on average, 13% less per hour than men, compared with 13.7% in 2019. In most of Europe, the trend was for women's wages to be closer to those of men. men's wages, but in Spain (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/news/euro-indicators) inequalities remained unchanged (9.4), having been the eighth best performing country in the EU, even with the impact of Covid-19.

Sugestions

Despite the fact that more than half of workers with higher education qualifications are female, women continue to receive lower wages. However, the authors should mention that this divergence has been decreasing over the years, although still relevant, namely at higher qualification levels.

Precariousness can refer to material characteristics of something. A house with a dirt floor, wooden walls and a zinc roof can be classified as precarious, since it does not offer security or basic amenities to be dignifiedly occupied. Do not all women, young or less young, have a place to live?

Insecurity at work implies, from the outset, a salary that is not sufficient to meet the essential needs of women. Working conditions can endanger health.

Another suggestion has to do with the latent possibility of losing one's job without receiving any compensation. This reference should be placed by the authors.

In a developed society, the salary is intended to cover much more needs than simple survival at the biological level (a goal that can be achieved with decent housing, clothing and food, for example), but it aims to allow access to a life with opportunities for study, socialize with other people, travel and have fun. This leads us to the importance of working conditions for the emotional balance of workers.

Furthermore, in a male-dominated society, the primary role of women is that of biological reproduction, which is considered, at the same time, highly incompatible with work and the reason for wage inequality and the unequal progress of professional careers. This desideratum was not considered by the authors and should have been. The dilemma of inequality between men and women can only be resolved in utopianly existing societies, which is to say that they do not and will not exist.

In summary, the real problem of women's biology should have had some reference by the authors. For some, “Yes biology and feminism too” and for others “Yes biology, no gender ideology”. These are beautiful theses to write.

What postmodern, interdisciplinary and politically correct need motivated Londa Schiebinger (not mentioned in the bibliographic references) to relate the genre to the hard sciences? Some will think. Despite the fact that there is no such thing as a completely objective stance, it seems to me that we are unable to fully understand all that this warning means, until the evidence accumulates and the examples abysm us. This was Schiebinger's strategy during his participation in the XXIV International Colloquium on Gender Studies, in Mexico, dedicated to science and technology, held at the end of October (https://ihu.unisinos.br/78-noticias/574570- sciences-and-women-biology-yes-feminism-too). The exposition of this historian adds that gender stereotypes intrude on the concepts and metaphors with which we explain biological phenomena. Why was this not taken into account in the article? This is the basis of all the beginnings of Humanity.

Author Response

Thank you very much for the comments. All the comments have been very helpful in improving the manuscript. We have taken all comments and recommendations into account. In this document, we include a response to each comment explaining the modifications we have included in the text (in red color). In the manuscript you will see those parts that are modified (mostly in the discussion and conclusions). There are other small details in the text that have also been modified. The entire manuscript has been proofread again.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

I really like the work and I find it interesting, methodologically structured and reasoned.

Of course, it has a high degree of importance and topicality because it addresses the issue of young people, and especially young women in a difficult economic and social context. The problems of young people and their access to the labour market have been exacerbated by the Covid 19 pandemic. Most education systems have suffered. Labour market prospects have changed, technology has infiltrated people's lives, and gender differences among the younger generation are growing. Public policy intervention (YG) is very important for overcoming the multiple pandemic crises.

The article examined all these general issues and confirmed the results and trends supported by the vast majority of authors paying attention to these phenomena both in Spain and in other EU or non-EU countries. The application of the analysis in this specific case of Spain is an element of originality as well as of interest. I think that a little more exposure could be appreciated in the methodology part, the algorithms that were the basis of the own programming code or the formulas that substantiated the calculation for the report module, especially if this was an original idea of ​​the authors. I suggest the display in the Annex, in a table of the data that have been processed. Greater attention, but also openness in the communication or in the exposure of the methodologies and data, would contribute to the increase of scientific rigor and would attract more attention and interest of the reader.

I could observe a specific exploration of some intersectional factors that can trigger a socioeconomic disadvantage and have important ramifications for the dynamics of gender gaps analysed in the paper The importance of labour market segmentation and occupational polarization processes and their effects on women's vulnerability have been highlighted by many research, some presented as references.

I suggest an emphasis of the author / authors' opinion on the mechanism of transmission of gender social norms and to show the implications on the structural vulnerability that it supports in the conclusion of the paper.

If the measures taken do not eliminate the risk of perpetuation, or even worsening of the situation of young people, especially young women, what are the proposals that the authors support?

I do not insist on the need to revise the English language because I am convinced that small syntax or editing errors will be eliminated by author in a simple read or by the publisher.

Maybe even the field of public policy could be impacted by such research, so congratulations to the authors!

I also wish them success in everything they do!

Author Response

Thank you very much for the comments. All the comments have been very helpful in improving the manuscript. We have taken all comments and recommendations into account. In this document, we include a response to each comment explaining the modifications we have included in the text (in red color). In the manuscript you will see those parts that are modified.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf