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The article deals with the comparative experience of women and men during the current crisis in eight of the European countries most affected by austerity and the challenge that recession and austerity represent for gender equality. Short term reductions in gender gaps and the female employment rate have been a common trend in all countries but the longer term trends are more important from a gender perspective. More labour market flexibility leads to a greater convergence of men’s and women’s employment conditions at the bottom of the labour market; reductions in public sector employment hamper women’s access to stable, protected and more equal jobs, while the withdrawal of the state from the provision of social care is interrupting the defamilialisation of care. However, as women’s employment remains vital for social reproduction at both the macro and household levels, gender equality must be an essential component of a progressive exit strategy from the crisis.