“The cut has a female face”: 20 years after Beijing platform, inequalities are deepening

Abstract

Argentina is experiencing a political and economic transition that in a few months show social impact of extreme worry. In clear contradiction with the commitments assumed by our country in the Beijing conference (1995), and after 20 years of its celebration, Argentine’s women as European’s, appear to face new setbacks in the conquered social rights and little prospect to make progress on outstanding debts of Democracy. Workers fired massively from state areas, closures of programs "Assistance to Victims of Domestic Violence", resource restrictions for sexual and reproductive health policies; and many social implications due to the economic policies  that capitalism implements in its neoliberal version, exacerbating the subordinate status of women because of their gender, class and geographical measures. As it is shown in Argentinian history and current European experience, especially in the popular sectors, on the economic crisis, women constitute the reserve army of labor that becomes available and flexible. Indeed, when the state ceases to assume functions related to its role as rights guarantor and social policies maker, women replace it and assume more responsibilities than usual, almost always related to health, nutrition and care, affecting their access and practice of their own human rights.