Pension reforms in Europe: Keeping women poor in old age?
Press Release - Education International
Are pension reforms reinforcing the gender wage gap and extending it past women’s working lives and in to retirement?
What policies can help minimize the differences between men’s and women’s economic wellbeing in old age? These are among
the questions examined in a new study by Education International (EI), the global union federation representing teachers
and education workers across Europe and around the world.
Pension Reforms in Europe and Their Impact on Women was written on behalf of EI by Vanja Ivosevic, a University of
Zagreb specialist on gender perspectives in education policy. The EI study aims to show how pension reforms may affect
the gender disadvantages facing women once they are dependent on retirement income. Proper attention to key features of
pension redesign discussed in this study can make a vital difference in improving the circumstances of retired women.
Ivosevic based her analysis on an independent survey of 48 EI-affiliated teacher unions in 33 countries in the Pan
European region, and provides an unprecedented overview of the gender implications of pension reform throughout Europe.
The report can help reform proponents and critics alike become aware of the diverse picture of retirement incomes across
Europe, and understand how their own countries and unions compare within the broader picture.
One concern highlighted is the widespread, cost-driven retreat by government from social insurance ideals. As government
financial support declines proportionally, the result has been to link total retirement income more closely to employee
pension plan contributions, which in turn leads to employment pay differentials being carried over into retirement
incomes. A decline in policies that bring more equality into retirement incomes, such as guaranteed minimum incomes,
flat rates, and income ceilings, is also associated with government cost-cutting. Thus, the retreat of the state
increases gender differentials in total pension benefits.
It is therefore important that pension reform should mitigate, or at least not further exacerbate, these gender
differences in retirement welfare, Ivosevic reports. The EI study points to certain key points. Pension calculation
formulas can affect gender differences through the selection of the base interval of earnings years and through the
acceptance or rejection of gendered life expectancy tables. Access criteria to full pension rights are similarly
influential in the way they deal with part-time work and career interruptions, in setting levels of minimum and regular
contribution requirements, and in allowing or penalizing earlier retirement.
By showing what is being done across a wide range of European jurisdictions, EI aims at empowering unions to evaluate
pension reform proposals and to advocate for appropriate changes. In addition, by indicating the nuances and complexity
of different national situations, this study makes a strong case for the necessity of comprehensive gender impact
assessment in pension plan reform.
You can download the EI study on Pension Reforms in Europe on the EI website: www.ei-ie.org/gender/ .