Gendering the Covid-19 pandemic: a caring Union?

The Covid-19 Pandemic has caused massive eruption in European societies, and led to a range of state and EU responses. In response to the economic consequences of the pandemic, the EU installed a Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), meant to damper the effects of lockdowns and the broader crisis. While the EU Commission under Commission President von der Leyen stressed that caring is an essential aspect in societies, the pandemic also highlights how little recognition there is for care work, i.e., the paid or unpaid care and supervision of relatives and children, and those areas of gainful employment in which women are overrepresented. In this chapter, we use feminist political economy and the example of the RRF to explore the position of concerns for gender equality, care, and social reproduction which continue to shape policy in the EU. We ask, if certain member states like Germany and Spain have readjusted their welfare provisioning and were they supportive of the caring economy, or is it still business as usual? Has the von der Leyen Commission set enough incentives for a caring economy, or are the measures not targeted enough? This chapter explores these questions in the context of changes within European Economic Governance, through analysis of two case studies: Germany and Spain.