EDITORIAL published: 14 July 2021 doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2021.730671 Editorial: The Intersections of Economic Insecurity, Non-Standard Employment and Gender in Southern Europe Lara Maestripieri 1 and Christiana Ierodiakonou 2* 1 Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy, 2University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus Keywords: economic insecurity, non-standard work, southern europe, intersectionality, women’s work Editorial on the Research Topic The Intersections of Economic Insecurity, Non-Standard Employment and Gender in Southern Europe BACKGROUND OF THE SPECIAL ISSUE This collection of papers examines economic insecurity in relation to non-standard employment from a gender perspective and with an emphasis on the southern European context. Given changes in the broader socio-economic and political contexts, as well as changes in the modes and patterns of working, this special issue provides insights into the complex ways that gender relates to these changes within southern European countries. Albeit small, this collection of articles adds to extant Edited and reviewed by: literature and helps move relevant research forward in two main ways. First, it highlights the need to Jason Heyes, enrich relevant research with the incorporation of context, and particularly of under-researched and The University of Sheffield, idiosyncratic contexts such as the southern European one. Second, it denotes the importance of United Kingdom adopting interdisciplinary approaches and methods of research if we are to better understand how gender and other dimensions of identity –and exclusion –interact and affect working modes, *Correspondence: Christiana Ierodiakonou experiences and outcomes. c.ierodiakonou@ucy.ac.cy Economic insecurity is an issue that has received increasing academic attention in general, but especially over the last years, following the 2008 global economic crisis. Economic insecurity can be Specialty section: defined as ‘the anxiety produced by the possible exposure to adverse economic events and by the This article was submitted to anticipation of the difficulty to recover from them’ (Bossert and D’Ambrosio, 2013, p. 1018). It is Work, Employment and Organizations, therefore a condition experienced at the micro-level, subjectively perceived by individuals who feel a section of the journal they are in a vulnerable and insecure position, but is nonetheless triggered by rather ‘objective’ Frontiers in Sociology conditions, such as financial strain and difficulties in covering basic needs experienced by Received: 25 June 2021 households. Economic insecurity therefore relates to risk(s) of livelihood such as economic loss, Accepted: 30 June 2021 unemployment or under-employment (Kopasker et al., 2018). Indeed, economic insecurity is often Published: 14 July 2021 associated with labor market insecurity and therefore also with issues such as unemployment, tenure, Citation: working hours and compensation (Misra, 2021; Western et al., 2012). Nonetheless, many other Maestripieri L and Ierodiakonou C adverse events are associated with economic insecurity, including events relating to family, health (2021) Editorial: The Intersections of (Western et al., 2012) and classes (Ranci et al., 2017). Economic Insecurity, Non-Standard Vulnerability to economic insecurity seems to be closely tied to changes in employment relations Employment and Gender in Southern Europe. and working conditions. As Kopasker et al. (2018) rightly argue, such a noticeable change is that non- Front. Sociol. 6:730671. standard employment through precarious contract arrangements is becoming increasingly doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2021.730671 normalized. For Hollister (2011), this represents a new employment narrative that gradually Frontiers in Sociology | www.frontiersin.org 1 July 2021 | Volume 6 | Article 730671 Maestripieri and Ierodiakonou Editorial: Intersections in Southern Europe transforms employment relations to short-term, contractual created (Maroto et al., 2019). This reveals thus the complexity agreements. How does this then relate to experiences of involved in understanding these issues and the need to move from economic insecurity and what socio-economic consequences a gender perspective to an intersectional approach in order to are individuals faced with if we consider evidence associating understand how insecurity and disadvantage are multiplied and insecurity with multiple negative effects on mental and physical reproduced across different axes. To quote (Misra (2021), pp. 2–3), health? ‘gender, nationality, and race are implicated in nonstandard There seems to be a common agreement that, as labor markets employment relations, job insecurity, economic insecurity, and are changing, they are becoming more precarious (Gutiérrez- subjective well-being, as well as policy solutions to all of these’. Barbarrusa, 2016; Misra, 2021). As per Lorey (2015), For this special issue, another one of those axes is geography: the precariousness relates broadly to insecurity, vulnerability, need to generate more research insights from under-researched uncertainty and endangerment. However, these negative effects contexts such as the one of southern European countries. Southern are disproportionately distributed and affect specific groups of Europe deviates substantially from the Anglo-Saxon context where people more than others. This is primarily due to pre-existing most research evidence comes from Ferrera (1996). Furthermore, structures and systems of socio-economic inequalities (Maroto Southern Europe was most severely affected by the economic crisis, et al., 2019). Such structures are historically and culturally which has had profound effects on labor markets and other embedded and therefore become hard to shift boundaries institutions, putting a large proportion of the population in a through which inequalities are typically reproduced, making state of long-term economic insecurity. Though in different and specific groups structurally vulnerable and thus more likely to varying degrees, southern European countries have experienced run elevated risks in labor markets and in life (Whittle et al., increases in non-standard, casual and informal work that have 2020). For instance, relevant studies show a link between changed the work and employment patterns of all individuals, women’s labor market condition and exposure to vulnerability more so of women. Coupled with changes in socio-economic determined by economic insecurity. At the same time, though, policies, women’s large and often involuntary share in women’s economic insecurity is not solely affected by labor precarious forms of work and employment places women at a market participation, but from a combination of multiple state of higher economic insecurity. interconnecting factors (Kasearu et al., 2017). To indicate, Through comparative research, Kasearu et al. (2017), for Ierodiakonou (2014) explored the work-family trajectories of example, conclude that there are different configurations of three birth cohorts of women in Cyprus to conclude that factors that explain women’s exposure to economic insecurity, women’s agency in making work-related decisions remained, clearly indicating that, even within Europe, specific contextual over time, limited by several broader structures and that circumstances affect individual vulnerability. Maestripieri and traditional social norms operated through class, gender and León (2019) have demonstrated the increasing exposure of family relationships in complex ways. women to involuntary non-standard employment in Southern Women, as well as members of other minority groups, Europe, which is indeed one of the main determinants of the experience higher levels of economic insecurity since they are economic insecurity as previously argued. The 2008 financial more likely to find themselves in a disadvantaged position in the crisis has worsened this situation and we might expect a labor market, in relation to their counterparts (Kopasker et al., corresponding worsening over women’s condition as a 2018; Maroto et al., 2019). Up to now, however, the debate on consequence of the Covid19 disruption (see Maestripieri in economic insecurity has largely taken the household as the this issue). On a related note, Gutiérrez-Barbarrusa (2016) minimal unit to investigate these dynamics: as such, gender concludes that, even though precarious employment generally dynamics over the phenomenon have been covered by couple increased following the 2008 financial crisis, the drivers of this relationships (e.g., Mauno and Kinnunen, 2002; Western et al., increase varied among countries: while poverty drove to increases 2012). An individual-based investigation of economic insecurity of precarious work in deregulated markets, insecurity was the allows investigating to what extent gender influence the subjective main driver in southern European countries. perception of economic insecurity in its relationship with labor Future research–especially those exploring the socio and precariousness, going beyond the current debate. economic consequences of the Covid19 pandemics–should go Relatedly, we know little about what happens when gender beyond the household approach to economic insecurity and interacts with other socially constructed statuses and how focusing on the individual condition of insecurity. An those interactions shape different experiences of disadvantage, intersectional analytical framework allows scholars to employment experiences and paths to non-standard, precarious disentangle the concomitant effect of the different axes of work and economic insecurity (Lavaysse et al., 2018). Socially inequalities, such as gender, migrant background and constructed statuses interact and their intersectionality creates locality–as done by the contributions in this special issue. mechanisms of accumulated disadvantage and inequality, making some individuals and groups more vulnerable to economic insecurity compared to others (Maroto et al., 2019; CONTRIBUTIONS IN THE SPECIAL ISSUE Misra, 2021). So while women in general may be more likely to have non-standard employment compared to men, where gender Articles in this collection are diverse and come from different interacts with other dimensions–such as race, migration status, perspectives and contexts, but all contend with the social class or disability–different hierarchies of disadvantage are aforementioned key concepts, albeit to different extents: Frontiers in Sociology | www.frontiersin.org 2 July 2021 | Volume 6 | Article 730671 Maestripieri and Ierodiakonou Editorial: Intersections in Southern Europe economic insecurity, non-standard employment, gender and aspects such as age, social background and education to intersectionality. understand how these migrant women cope with feelings of Bracci and Riva offer a cross-country comparative analysis economic insecurity. Through a ground research approach, this using data from the European Working Conditions Survey. The article provides critical insights into the different meanings authors approach job insecurity as the risk of involuntary job loss that economic insecurity may have for different individuals. and investigate its links to anxiety from a gender perspective. In Here, analysis and interpretation are carefully and fully so doing, they find that women are overall more vulnerable to contextualized and the authors put forth the idea that experience anxiety compared to men when perceiving their jobs perceptions of insecurity relate to deeper and broader as insecure. Interestingly, though, their analyses did not reveal concepts and values, thus relating to institutional and ‘gender’ as a statistically significant moderator in the relationship cultural dimensions. between job insecurity and anxiety. What’s more, despite some Finally, Maestripieri focuses on intersectionality specifically in country differences that Bracci and Riva discuss, the association relation to the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic in an article that between job insecurity and anxiety appears to be fairly stable highlights how a crisis such as this places specific groups at an across most European countries. This could suggest that the elevated risk –in terms of their health and economic insecurity macro-level national context does not have the impact one –bringing forward issues related to structural vulnerability. might initially assume. Instead, it could be that individual Maestripieri argues that the pandemic is an intersectional feelings of insecurity unequivocally relate to anxiety, regardless phenomenon relating to multiple interconnecting structures of of the broader context. In this sense, instead of focusing on inequality and therefore understanding its determinants and institutional policies or welfare protection for employees, we consequences necessitates an intersectional framework. should place emphasis on improving employment conditions Taken together, contributions in this special issue may be and job security in order to reduce feelings of anxiety and other different, but come together in a collection that generally calls for mental health implications. These findings can guide relevant deeper, more elaborated and more complex explorations of a research as it moves forward. Researchers may try to untangle the social phenomenon such as economic insecurity that is triggering complexity surrounding these issues by including more and/or new forms of inequalities in contemporary societies. different macro-level dimensions. Examples could include relevant legislation, cultural values and norms, equality indices, welfare state investments, etc. Further studies could also include AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS dimensions of identity in addition to gender, to offer an even more complete picture around associations between job All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual insecurity and anxiety, following a more interdisciplinary contribution to the work and approved it for publication. approach. Such an approach is more evident in the contribution of Gewinner and Salvino, who use a pluralistic methodology that FUNDING combines interview and online data with observation and judicial material to explore how women from the former This special issue has received funding from the European Soviet Union experience economic insecurity as migrants in Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program three different countries: Germany, Italy and Spain. Employing under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. an intersectional approach, the analysis offered considers 747433. Kopasker, D., Montagna, C., and Bender, K. A. (2018). Economic Insecurity: A REFERENCES Socioeconomic Determinant of Mental Health. SSM - Popul. Health 6, 184–194. doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2018.09.006 Bossert, W., and D’Ambrosio, C. (2013). Measuring Economic Insecurity. Int. Lavaysse, L., Probst, T., Arena Jr.Jr., and David, F. (2018). Is More Always Merrier? Econ. Rev. 54 (3), 1017–1030. doi:10.1111/iere.12026 Intersectionality as an Antecedent of Job Insecurity. Ijerph 15 (11), 2559. Ferrera, M. (1996). The ‘Southern Model’ of Welfare in Social Europe. J. Eur. Social doi:10.3390/ijerph15112559 Policy 6, 17–37. doi:10.1177/095892879600600102 Lorey, I. (2015). State of Insecurity: Government of the Precarious. London: Gutiérrez-barbarrusa, T. (2016). The Growth of Precarious Employment in Verso. Europe: Concepts, Indicators and the Effects of the Global Economic Crisis. Maestripieri, L., and León, M. (2019). “So Close, So Far?,” in Dualization of Int. Labour Rev. 155 (4), 477–508. doi:10.1111/ilr.12049 Part-Time Work. The Development of Labour Market Insiders and Outsiders. Hollister, M. (2011). Employment Stability in the U.S. Labor Market: Rhetoric Editors H. Nicolaisen, H. C. Kavli, and R. Steen Jensen (Bristol: Policy Press), versus Reality. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 37, 305–324. doi:10.1146/annurev-soc- 55–84. doi:10.2307/j.ctvjnrth2.9 081309-150042 Maroto, M., Pettinicchio, D., and Patterson, A. C. (2019). Hierarchies of Ierodiakonou, C. (2014). Change and Continuity in Women’s Work-Family Categorical Disadvantage: Economic Insecurity at the Intersection of Preferences and Choices in CyprusEdamba Thesis Competition 2013 Disability, Gender, and Race. Gend. Soc. 33 (1), 64–93. doi:10.1177/ Summaries, 121–136. 0891243218794648 Kasearu, K., Maestripieri, L., and Ranci, C. (2017). Women at Risk: the Impact of Mauno, S., and Kinnunen, U. (2002). Perceived Job Insecurity Among Dual-Earner Labour-Market Participation, Education and Household Structure on the Couples: Do its Antecedents Vary According to Gender, Economic Sector and Economic Vulnerability of Women through Europe. Eur. Societies 19 (2), the Measure Used?. J. Occup. Organizational Psychol. 75, 295–314. doi:10.1348/ 202–221. doi:10.1080/14616696.2016.1268703 096317902320369721 Frontiers in Sociology | www.frontiersin.org 3 July 2021 | Volume 6 | Article 730671 Maestripieri and Ierodiakonou Editorial: Intersections in Southern Europe Misra, J. (2021). The Intersectionality of Precarity. Contemp. Sociol. 50 (2), Women in the United States. Social Sci. Med. 45, 112683. doi:10.1016/ 104–108. doi:10.1177/0094306121991073a j.socscimed.2019.112683 Ranci, C., Parma, A., Bernardi, L., and Beckfield, J. (2017). The Rise of Economic Insecurity in the EU: Concepts and Measures. Lives Working Papers 2017/62. Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the Losanne: University of Lausanne. Available at: https://www.lives-nccr.ch/sites/ absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a default/files/pdf/publication/lives_wp_62_ranci_et_al_2017.pdf (Accessed potential conflict of interest. April 25, 2019). Western, B., Bloome, D., Sosnaud, B., and Tach, L. (2012). Economic Insecurity Copyright © 2021 Maestripieri and Ierodiakonou. This is an open-access article and Social Stratification. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 38 (1), 341–359. doi:10.1146/ distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The annurev-soc-071811-145434 use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original Whittle, H. J., Leddy, A. M., Shieh, J., Tien, P. C., Ofotokun, I., Adimora, A. A., author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in et al. (2020). Precarity and Health: Theorizing the Intersection of this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, Multiple Material-Need Insecurities, Stigma, and Illness Among distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Frontiers in Sociology | www.frontiersin.org 4 July 2021 | Volume 6 | Article 730671