On 23rd June 2016 a monumental vote took place in the United Kingdom. More than 30 million people (a voter turnout of 71.8%) voted in a referendum asking whether Britain should leave or remain in the European Union, a political and economic union made up of 28 member states. Make More Noise have been reading and discussing how our membership of the European Union has impacted women, and how leaving might affect us.
The EU started after the Second World War, as it was thought that countries who had linked trade policies were less likely to go to war with each other. The EU has an estimated population of 513 million and has developed a single internal market. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of goods, people, services and capital within that market and seek to enact policies in justice, home affairs, common trading policies, agriculture, fisheries and regional development. A single currency, the Euro, has been adopted by 19 member states and in 26 of the states passport controls have been abolished, meaning that EU citizens travelling through internal borders are not required to show passports, though carriers (such as airlines) may still require passport checks.
The referendum resulted in 51.9% of voters wanting to leave the European Union and 48.1% wishing to remain, with different regions having different voting patterns. Due to the result of the referendum the United Kingdom invoked article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty which outlines the procedure for a member state to withdraw from the EU. The Lisbon Treaty amends the Treaty on European Union or TEU the (previously the Maastricht Treaty) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union or TFEU (previously the Treaty of Rome) and forms the constitutional basis of the EU.
The United Kingdom had been due to leave on 29 March 2019, two years after Article 50 was invoked and the exit process began. However, the withdrawal agreement reached between the EU and UK has been rejected three times by UK MPs. EU leaders have agreed to extend the date that the United Kingdom is to leave the EU and the current Brexit date is 12 April 2019. However, Theresa May has again requested an extension until 30 June, European Union leaders will consider this on 10 April.
Both leavers and remainers feel strongly, and many of the nation are completely turned off by the whole thing. So, Make More Noise are asking: how will Brexit affect women?
What the EU has done for women?
The EU has enacted lots of legislation ensuring the rights of women, and the EU Pregnant Workers Directive, implemented in 1993, has ensured the health and safety at work of pregnant women and new mothers. UK employers must now give pregnant employees the option of parental leave and provide for paid time off for antenatal appointments during working hours.
Equal Pay is enshrined in EU law under the Equal Pay Directive of 1975 and the Equal Treatment Directive of 1976. However, it is worth mentioning that just because something is law it does not mean the law is applied correctly in practice, as many women still report unequal pay for the same work.
The EU prohibits discrimination against carers due to their carer status or relationship to a disabled person. Women are more likely to be carers, so this legislation is of particular importance to women.
The EU has provided over £8 billion in funding towards UK women-led projects over the past ten years such as Leicester Business women network and The Women’s International Centre for Economic Development in Liverpool.
Women tend to use the NHS more than men due to longer life expectancy and maternity healthcare. The NHS has a large proportion of EU migrants working in its ranks and in anticipation of a no-deal Brexit many workers have left already. In 2017 the number of EU nationals leaving the NHS jumped by 14%. This is putting pressure on an already squeezed service, and it is women who will bear the brunt. It is estimated that there will be a massive increase in demand for elderly care in the coming years and The Department of Health estimates that there could be as many as 28,000 fewer workers in the social care sector five years after leaving the EU. Some social conservatives view this as a golden opportunity to return to “family values” where, it is assumed, women will do the unpaid caring labour.
Whilst the EU is responsible for much legislation surrounding women's rights, the laws are not always enforced leading some feminists to question the worth of the laws themselves.
How the EU is failing women and opportunities leaving might present
In an effort to decrease migration from outside the EU, money has been funnelled into North African governments; institutions, such as the Libyan Coastguard, and in some cases militias, in order to curb the amount of Mediterranean crossings. Local police and armed groups detain those they suspect of attempting to enter the EU, and many describe the conditions as horrendous with beating or rapes a common fixture. There are reports of EU funded police or militia asking for extortionate amounts of money whilst promising to dodge EU checkpoints and trafficking people into labour slavery or sexual slavery. The numbers of people attempting to cross into EU territory has fallen, but women are bearing the brunt of these new measures. In Morocco, many women report being sexually assaulted and trafficked by EU funded police as they try to seek a better life.
This is in tandem with the EU’s withdrawal of sea patrols that have rescued thousands of people. People, especially women seeking to escape hardship, are often caught between being raped and trafficked by EU funded police or drowning at sea.
Prostitution is legal in several EU countries. Germany, which legalised prostitution in 2002, has seen prostitution rise by 30% and trafficking has increased in order to meet demand. Holland sees about 6000 trafficking victims a year, two thirds of which are women coerced into the sex trade. The EU broadly supports the Nordic Model of regulating prostitution, but individual countries can take their own approaches such as full legalisation with little oversight. The United Kingdom leaving the EU would sever ties with pro-prostitution countries within the EU.
Many EU countries ignore or are under-trained to spot child trafficking and there are reports of children passing through as many as eight EU countries and an EPCAT report found that governments from key countries on trafficking routes are failing to take action.
Many Marxist, socialist and radical feminists argue that it is impossible to establish socialism within the EU as it is capitalist in nature. The free movement of goods and people serves to profit the ruling classes and multinational corporations. With a break from the capitalist EU an opportunity is presented to deconstruct the commodification of women from a radical, socialist perspective, which could lead to less trafficking of women and girls and less demand from buyers for prostituted women. However, the same power structures rooted in patriarchy could still prevail even if the United Kingdom left a major institution like the EU. The Conservative Party enacted austerity measures of its own accord and the British left has problems with sexism and antisemitism, whether or not we are in the European Union.
The withdrawal of Britain from the EU is far from a black and white issue. But what is clear that whether we remain in the EU or leave with or without a deal, women need to be at the top of the agenda because our exploitation and subjugation not being adequately addressed. There is a new wave of feminism gaining momentum in the United Kingdom, women must seize the opportunity to put our needs first and find a clear path to liberation through the chaos.
By Sobering Maid
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