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GENDER EQUALITY AS SMART ECONOMICS: A CRITICAL VIEW

The aim of this paper is to analyse smart economics argumentation of gender equality, with the data on gender equality index (GEI) in Croatia in mind, from the perspective of the most frequent critiques addressed at the so-called economic development theories of gender equality. The progress of Croatia towards achieving gender equality in the 21st century has been slow ; according to GEI, Croatia has retained the same rank among the EU countries since 2005 and was in 2017 farther away from the European average than in 2005. The general level of economic development is strongly connected with values, religion, cultural roles, legislation, marital pattern of resource allocation, labour market access, education, fertility, political participation etc. Smart economics treats gender equality as an integral part of economic development, whereby the gap between men and women (in human capital, economic opportunities, voice) is the main obstacle to achieving efficient development. Gender equality is thereby seen as an investment return. The World bank, UN and International Labour Organisation have referred to the double dividend of gender equality: it is tied to both millennium development goals (to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women) and economic efficiency increase. The main critiques of this approach, numerous in the last fifteen years, which we will discuss in this paper, revolve around the subordination of the intrinsic value of equality, feminisation of responsibility, lack of knowledge about the need for systemic transformation, over-emphasized efficiency, opportune pragmatism, post-feminism etc.

Croatia, development, gender equality, post-feminism, smart economics, women.

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