Decent pensions for women
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 25 June 2010
(27th Sitting) (see Doc.
12274, report of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for
Women and Men, rapporteur: Mrs Čurdová; and Doc. 12307, opinion of the Social,
Health and Family Affairs Committee, rapporteur: Mr Marquet). Text adopted by the Assembly on
25 June 2010 (27th Sitting). See also Recommendation 1932 (2010).
- Thesaurus
1. There is generally an appreciable
difference between women’s and men’s pensions in Council of Europe member
states. Many elderly women are poor because they have no pension
or their pension is insufficient. Women have frequently played a
role in raising children and caring for dependent persons and these
periods are not, or are only partially, taken into account in calculating
pensions. Furthermore, in particular as a result of difficulties
in gaining access to the labour market, of the need to resort to
accepting part-time jobs and of slow career advancement, women have,
on average, lower personal incomes than men, which leads to smaller pensions.
2. The Parliamentary Assembly notes that traditional pension
systems favour the linear career paths of men and are disconnected
from the realities of present-day society. Furthermore, with the
increase in the number of divorces, remarriages and single-parent
families headed by mothers, the system of survivors’ pensions (paid
to the surviving spouse) is becoming obsolete.
3. The Assembly calls for fair and equitable pensions offering
every man and woman a reasonable standard of living. For the sake
of social cohesion and human dignity, it is convinced of the need
for measures to resolve the main problems responsible for the pension
gap between women and men, on the one hand by eliminating the pay
gap between women and men during their working lives and on the
other by reforming pension schemes in order to eliminate inequalities.
4. The Assembly therefore urges the Council of Europe member
states to apply as soon as possible its
Resolution 1715 (2010) on the wage
gap between women and men in order to end discrimination against women
on the labour market, and calls on them in particular to ensure
that:
4.1 the right to equal pay
for equal work is written into their domestic legislation if this
is not already the case;
4.2 employers are obliged to comply with this right and will
incur penalties if they fail to do so;
4.3 employees are able to initiate judicial proceedings to
secure recognition of this right without any risk of losing their
jobs.
5. The Assembly asks member states to revise their pension laws
in order not only to prohibit discrimination between women and men
but also to provide for positive discrimination in favour of women,
through measures taking into account career breaks and women’s and
men’s different career patterns, by:
5.1 guaranteeing a personal pension entitlement to every individual,
thus allowing survivors’ pensions to be phased out;
5.2 taking into account the principle of equality between
women and men in pension reforms, emphasising in particular the
importance of public pension systems which are more favourable to women,
perform a redistributive function to help the lower paid and may
offer credits for caring for children and elderly persons;
5.3 granting an adequate allowance for family responsibilities
or for the support of dependent persons to individuals who play
a role in raising children and caring for other dependants;
5.4 granting credits to cover certain periods in respect of
which there is no pension entitlement (unemployment, parental leave,
part-time work, etc.);
5.5 establishing adequately paid parental leave shared between
both parents;
5.6 providing affordable, good-quality services to look after
children and dependent persons.
6. The Assembly asks member states to take measures, as part
of their pension policy, to ensure greater solidarity between women
and men when earned pension entitlement is insufficient, including
positive measures to help elderly people by:
6.1 providing for the systematic award to elderly people of
a pension or an overall income which should be at least equal to,
or higher than, the national poverty threshold;
6.2 considering the introduction of a mixed pension scheme
under which any person usually residing in the national territory
would benefit (following procedures put in place by the country),
and which would include a fixed part related to residence and a
variable part in proportion to his/her income;
6.3 establishing alternative or additional benefits, in cash
or in kind, such as coverage of medical expenses or other expenses
such as electricity or heating;
6.4 ensuring that austerity plans and current pension reforms
in no way affect women in a discriminatory or disproportionate manner.
7. Lastly, it calls on member states to:
7.1 establish effective mechanisms to monitor the implementation
of legislation and to propose necessary improvements;
7.2 include a gender perspective in the reform and future
evaluation of pension schemes, in particular by ensuring balanced
participation of women and men in negotiation bodies.
8. The Assembly resolves to urgently address the issue of “decent
pensions for all”, in view of the risk posed by the consequences
of the economic and financial crisis, the over-indebtedness of states
and demographic evolution to the maintenance of adequate and sustainable
pensions – and thus to social cohesion.
