Buenos Aires, Argentina — A year ago, Mariana had her hands full, working hour days as a seamstress at a textile factory and raising five children in an impoverished settlement on the margins of Buenos Aires.
In March, her boss told her he could no longer afford to keep her. Mariana, whose name is being changed to protect her privacy, thought she would land a new job relatively quickly, given her five years of experience.
But the weeks crept by and all she could find was sporadic work cleaning houses, but nothing stable. She told Al Jazeera that her husband, who had lost his job months earlier, blamed her for their deteriorating financial situation. Mariana now manages a soup kitchen supported by the anti-austerity movement Barrios de Pie, which supports the unemployed.
The markets went haywire in the aftermath of the August 11 presidential primaries that saw incumbent pro-market President Mauricio Macri suffer a point defeat to left-of-centre Alberto Fernandez and his Peronist running mate, former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Poverty in Argentina climbed to That means that more than 15 million Argentines are living in poverty.
It is often women — the most precarious segment of the workforce — who endure the greatest financial hardships in times of economic crisis. And this is an issue that activists and politicians have sought to push onto the national agenda during this presidential-election season. In Argentina, about 62 percent of women work, compared to 81 percent of men.
