25/03/2010 Equality and Non-Discrimination
“Women continue to be discriminated against in manifold ways: they have less access to the labour market, they earn less and have lower pension incomes than men,” Anna Curdová (Czech Republic, SOC), rapporteur of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men on "decent pensions for women" said at a meeting in Paris today.
Following an exchange of views with experts on the subject, the committee stressed that a mix of social and pension policies, as well as legal provisions creating a positive duty to prevent discrimination and to promote equality, was indispensable to guarantee decent pensions for women. Inclusive state pensions, with credits for caring, contribute to equalising women’s and men’s independent pension income whereas closely linking pensions to contributions, as in private pensions, reinforces the gender gap in pensions, the committee agreed.
It also called for better childcare and elderly care facilities and adequate shared parental leave in order to allow women to keep full time jobs and thus contribute to securing decent pensions.