Gender Equality, Austerity, Vulnerabilities and Resistance in the Spanish Neoliberal Life Cycle

We examine how austerity measures have affected gender equality in the context of women workers in Spain. We adopt a feminist perspective to explore the multiple nature of the impact of the recession, emerging policy scenarios and forms of gender action that have developed. One of the unforeseen outcomes of the economic crisis in Spain is the opening up of new forms of collective action that have emerged in two political movements: ‘Podemos’ and ‘Barcelona en Comu’ and two examples of feminist activism: ‘La Vaga de Totes’ and ‘Igualdad de genero frente a la crisis economica’—initiatives which point to alternative ways of engaging with work and working lives, in the hope of redressing the inequalities that have increased over recent years. New forms of organization have been successful in mobilizing people by developing the struggle against austerity from a progressive perspective and radical democratic forms of action have come to the fore.