European Trade Union Committee for Education

The Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the European Parliament has recently published a new study at the request of the FEMM (Women’s rights and Gender equality) committee entitled “The gender pension gap: differences between mothers and women without children”.

As a consequence of the aging of the population and the financial and economic crisis, many EU member states have revised their pension systems drastically. However, concerns have been raised as regards the influence of new pension reforms on the gender pension gap.

To address this issue, this study provides an overview of the main features of current pension systems and recent reform trends from a gender perspective. It analyses the evolution of the gender gaps in pensions, with a focus on the effect of motherhood and of gender pension gap on the risk of poverty in old age; and looks at measures taken at EU and national level to reduce the gender pension gap. Finally, the study identifies a number of priorities to improve women’s pensions entitlements and coverage, and provides policy recommendations on how to effectively combat gender inequalities in pension systems.

Some of the key findings from the study demonstrate that low earners and those with interrupted careers (mainly women and atypical workers) are the most at risk of old age poverty due to low pension incomes. Besides, as female longevity increases, elderly women are more exposed to poverty risks resulting from longer expected period of time living alone, and a greater erosion of the value of their annuities. In general, unless specific measures are implemented to support women’s position in the labour market and to address periods out of the labour market due to caring duties, pension reforms may increase the gender pension gap, and older women might be affected by higher poverty compared to men.

The full study can be downloaded here.