Procedure completed
2016/2061(INI) Need for an EU strategy to end and prevent the gender pension gap
Lead committee dossier: FEMM/8/06307
| Role | Committee | Rapporteur | Shadows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opinion | EMPL | GONZÁLEZ PEÑAS Tania (GUE/NGL) | |
| Lead | FEMM | LE GRIP Constance (EPP) | NOICHL Maria (S&D), GERICKE Arne (ECR), MLINAR Angelika (ALDE), PIMENTA LOPES João (GUE/NGL), URTASUN Ernest (Verts/ALE), VON STORCH Beatrix (EFD) |
Subjects
Activites
- 2017/06/14 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
- 2017/06/12 Debate in Parliament
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2017/05/12
Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
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A8-0197/2017
summary
The Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality adopted an own-initiative report by Constance Le GRIP (EPP, FR) on the need for an EU strategy to end and prevent the gender pension gap. The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, exercising its prerogative as an associated committee in accordance with Article 54 of the Rules of Procedure, also gave its opinion on the report. Members recalled that in 2014 in the EU the gender gap in pensions, which may be defined as the gap between the average pre-tax income received as a pension by women and that received by men, stood at 39.4 % in the 65 and over age group, and has increased in half of the Member States in the past five years. They also recalled that the large gender pay gap in the EU, which stood at 16.3 % in 2014, is caused in particular by discrimination and segregation and career breaks. The challenge is therefore to achieve genuine gender equality, by pursuing a comprehensive, far-reaching strategy involving multiple variables in close cooperation with the Member States. Global strategy: Members considered that this strategy should seek not only to address at Member State level the impact of the pension gap, in particular on the most vulnerable groups, but also to prevent it in the future by fighting its underlying causes, such as unequal positions between women and men in the labour market in terms of pay, career advancement and opportunities to work full time, as well as labour market segregation. They stressed that a multifaceted approach (a combination of actions under different policies that aim at improving gender equality) is required in order to make a success of the strategy, which must embrace: a life-course approach to pensions, taking the whole of the person's working life into account; disparities between men and women in terms of employment level; possibilities of paying pension contributions. Assessment and awareness-raising for more effective action to address the pension gap: in general, Members called on the Member States and the Commission to continue investigating the gender pension gap and to work together with Eurostat and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) with a view to developing formal and reliable indicators. Member States are called upon to promote action to close the gender gap in pensions through their social policies, to raise public awareness relating to equal pay and the pension gap. Members called on the Member States to immediately disburse severance payments and end-of-service payments as soon as the period of pension entitlement begins, in order to prevent situations of economic difficulty. Reducing inequalities in terms of scope for paying pension contributions: while calling on the Member States to ensure that the EU legislation on indirect and direct gender discrimination is properly implemented, Members condemned unequivocally gender pay disparities and their 'inexplicable' component. They reiterated their call for Directive 2006/54/EC. The Member States and the Commission are also called upon to: tackle horizontal and vertical segregation on the labour market; offer women greater incentives to work for longer and with shorter breaks; pay particular attention to the case of migrant women, who often have not acquired pension rights in their country of origin. Reducing career-related gender inequalities: Members called on the Member States to consider employees being given the possibility to negotiate voluntary flexible working arrangements, including 'smart working', allowing women and men a better work-life balance. They called on the Member States to design strategies for recognising the importance of informal care performed for family members and other dependants and enabling the transfer of the employee after the maternity or parental leave back to the same work arrangement. Impact of pension systems on the pension gap: Members stressed that the sustainability of pension systems has to allow for the challenges posed by demographic changes. Taking account of the increased life expectancy in the EU, Members stressed that Member States should take a closer look at how the pension gap might be affected by a shift from statutory state pensions towards more flexible arrangements in occupational and private schemes for pension contributions. According to Members, it is important that first pillar pensions remain at the heart of the Member State’s pension systems. The use of private pension schemes should remain a voluntary option. Other measures are recommended such as: reforming survivors’ pensions and widow’s pensions systems in order not to penalise unmarried women; removing obstacles to access to an adequate pension for those with interrupted careers (mostly women); the principle of a public minimum pension of an adequate amount, independent of the recipient’s previous working life. Lastly, Members stressed that all people have the right to a universally accessible public pension. They, therefore, called on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that both women and men can receive equal pension annuities for equal contribution.
-
A8-0197/2017
summary
-
2017/05/03
Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
-
2016/04/28
Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
Documents
- Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A8-0197/2017
- Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
- Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T8-0260/2017
| Amendments | Dossier |
| 476 |
2016/2061(INI)
2016/10/06
EMPL
235 amendments...
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion Citation 1 (new) - having regard to Articles 22 and 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion Citation 10 (new) - having regard to the European Pact for gender equality (2011-2020) adopted by the Council on 7 March 2011;
Amendment 100 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3.
Amendment 101 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Calls
Amendment 102 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Calls for a decent public minimum pension not related to previous working life
Amendment 103 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Calls for an adequate public minimum pension not related to previous working life to eliminate coverage gaps; stresses the importance of shifting towards individual, rather than
Amendment 104 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Calls for an adequate public minimum pension
Amendment 105 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Calls
Amendment 106 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Calls for a public minimum pension not related to previous working life; stresses the importance of shifting towards individual
Amendment 107 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Calls for an adequate public minimum pension not related to previous working life; stresses the importance of shifting towards individual, rather than
Amendment 108 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Calls for a public minimum pension
Amendment 109 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Calls for a public minimum pension not related to previous working life; stresses the importance of shifting towards individual, rather than family-related, pension entitlements; points out, however, that the ratio between the public minimum pension and the pension arising from working life must be appropriate;
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion Citation 11 (new) - having regard to the ‘Strategic engagement for gender equality 2016- 2019’, and in particular objective 3.2 thereof;
Amendment 110 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Calls for a public minimum pension not related to previous working life to be constitutionally established; stresses the importance of shifting towards individual, rather than family-related, pension entitlements;
Amendment 111 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 a (new) 3a. Points out that the gender pension gap is a consequence of various factors and calls on the Member States and the Commission to continue investigating this gap and obtaining comparable data with a view to design better-informed policies;
Amendment 112 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 a (new) 3a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to study the effects of different systems providing survivor's pensions in the light of high rates of divorce and non-married couples on poverty and social exclusion of older women;
Amendment 113 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 a (new) 3a. Calls on the Commission to carry out a substantive analysis of the best practice to assist Member States in the calculation of such minimum pensions;
Amendment 114 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 a (new) 3a. Draws attention to the important role played by the social partners in the discussion of issues relating to the minimum wage and strict compliance with the subsidiarity principle;
Amendment 115 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 b (new) 3b. Calls on the Members States to consider providing shared pension rights in case of divorce and legal separation;
Amendment 116 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4. Regrets that the
Amendment 117 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4.
Amendment 118 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4.
Amendment 119 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4. Regrets that the current freeze and cuts in pensions in some Member States is hitting people with low incomes, part-time jobs or interrupted careers (most of them women) hardest, while acknowledging that these cuts have been progressive, and have had the greatest impact on people with higher incomes;
Amendment 12 #
Draft opinion Citation 12 (new) - having regard to the European Parliament study ‘The gender pension gap: differences between mothers and women without children’ (2016) and the Commission study ‘The Gender Gap in Pensions in the EU’ (2013);
Amendment 120 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4. Re
Amendment 121 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4.
Amendment 122 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4. Regrets that the current and future freezes and cuts in pensions in some Member States
Amendment 123 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4.
Amendment 124 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 4. Regrets that the current freeze and cuts in pensions in some Member States is hitting people with low incomes, part-time jobs or interrupted careers
Amendment 125 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 a (new) 4a. Takes the view that economic, employment and social policies need to be changed to strengthen investment and wage improvements policies to boost growth in socially useful, environmentally friendly and employment-generating activities, with a view to overcoming the economic and employment crisis; deplores the fact that measures to combat the crisis have undermined the financial capacity of public social security systems;
Amendment 126 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 a (new) 4a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to adopt measures to reduce inequalities, in financial terms, between minimum and maximum ('gold- plated') pensions, by increasing minimum pensions and decreasing maximum pensions;
Amendment 127 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 a (new) 4a. Calls on the Member States to create appropriate compensation mechanisms for people who devote a significant portion of their working lives to caring for dependents, the elderly and the chronically ill;
Amendment 128 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 b (new) 4b. Calls on the Member States to make the necessary public investment to guarantee the right to housing, universal and free public health care, a free public social services network and good-quality free care infrastructure for dependent persons and children with a view to ensuring decent living standards for older persons and striking the right balance between work and personal life;
Amendment 129 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 4 c (new) 4c. Points out that high unemployment rates combined with the austerity policies implemented during the financial and economic crisis have condemned many families to depend on a single source of income, often the retirement pension of an older person, chiefly the grandmother, which is thus the sole means of support for three generations;
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion Citation 13 (new) - having regard to Articles 3 and 9 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR);
Amendment 130 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 Amendment 131 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5.
Amendment 132 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5.
Amendment 133 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5.
Amendment 134 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5.
Amendment 135 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Asks the Member States to
Amendment 136 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Asks the Member States to increase minimum wages a
Amendment 137 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Asks the Member States to i
Amendment 138 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Asks the Member States to
Amendment 139 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5.
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion Recital A (new) A. whereas the gender pension gap in the EU was estimated at around 38% in 2014, with significant variations among the Member States, ranging from 3.7% in Estonia to 48.8% in Cyprus;
Amendment 140 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Asks the Member States
Amendment 141 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Asks the Member States to
Amendment 142 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Asks the Member States to increase minimum wages a
Amendment 143 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 5. Asks the Member States to increase minimum wages as an important tool for narrowing pension gaps and imposing transparency in pension schemes as regards men and women;
Amendment 144 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 a (new) 5a. Recalls that a decent retirement income is essential in order to fight poverty among the elderly; stresses that the feminisation of poverty is the result of several factors including the gender pay gap, the pension gap, care responsibilities and related breaks, as well as insufficient support and taxation systems affecting households headed by single mothers; calls on the Member States to ensure that part-time workers, workers facing job discontinuity, assisting spouses and workers with career gaps or with periods where fewer hours were worked have the right to access a decent pension scheme without any form of discrimination;
Amendment 145 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 a (new) 5a. Calls on the Commission to include the gender gap in pension indicator among the scoreboard indicators adopted for the European Semester surveillance process;
Amendment 146 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 a (new) 5a. Calls on the Member States to guarantee a minimum pension at the same level as the minimum wage;
Amendment 147 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 a (new) 5a. Emphasises that the subsidiarity principle must be strictly applied in the area of pensions as well;
Amendment 148 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 b (new) 5b. Reiterates that the labour reforms implemented in Member States, in line with the recommendations of the Commission’s 2012 white paper on transport, are undermining the employment conditions of workers, introducing greater precariousness into the labour market and reducing the pension income of older people, especially women;
Amendment 149 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 b (new) 5b. Calls on the Member States to adopt measures to extend pension coverage to atypical and self-employed workers;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion Recital B (new) B. whereas the percentage of the population receiving a pension varies widely between the Member States, standing at 11% in Cyprus and 25% in Belgium in 2012, whilst in countries such as Spain, Ireland and Malta only 10% or less of women receive a pension;
Amendment 150 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 c (new) 5c. Stresses the need to strengthen collective bargaining arrangements and the role of trade unions in order to ensure that older people have access to public pensions in line with the principles of solidarity between generations and gender equality;
Amendment 151 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 e (new) 5e. Highlights the importance of the European platform to tackle undeclared work and calls for it to be strengthened and for labour inspections to be stepped up in order to ensure that no workers are being made to work at a company without social security contributions, something that reduces the value of retirement pensions;
Amendment 152 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 f (new) 5f. Emphasises the need to expand coverage of pensions to encompass workers with atypical contracts and the self-employed;
Amendment 153 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 5 g (new) 5g. Stresses the importance of paying due account of trade unions in political when taking political decisions altering significant legal aspects of eligibility conditions for entitlement to pensions; calls on the Member States to promote social dialogue and take trade unions’ recommendations into account in any reforms affecting the pension system;
Amendment 154 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 6 6. Calls on the Member States t
Amendment 155 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 6 6. Calls on the Member States to introduce
Amendment 156 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 6 6. Calls on the Member States to introduce or reinforce
Amendment 157 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 6 6. Calls on the Member States to
Amendment 158 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 6 6.
Amendment 159 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 6 6. Calls on the Member States to introduce or reinforce pension credits
Amendment 16 #
Draft opinion Recital C (new) C. whereas pension cuts and freezes increase the risk of poverty in old age, particularly among women; whereas the percentage of older women at risk of poverty and social exclusion stood at 20.2% in 2014, compared with 14.6% of men, and by 2050 the proportion of people over 75 at risk of poverty could reach 30% in most Member States;
Amendment 160 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 6 6. Calls on the Member States to introduce or reinforce pension credits for career interruptions resulting from caring
Amendment 161 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 6 6. Calls on the Member States to introduce or reinforce pension credits for career interruptions resulting from caring, whatever the family and/or marital status; calls also on Member States to introduce or reinforce pension credits for career interruptions resulting from further education (e.g. where a person returns to college as a mature student);
Amendment 162 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 6 a (new) 6a. Believes that policies which reconcile work and family life such as paid maternity, paternity and shared parental leave as well as access to affordable childcare and long term care could counteract gender inequalities in economically active years which may impact on the gender pension gap in later life and encourages Member States to make provision for such policies; Calls on the Member States to effectively implement the Barcelona targets by 2020 and to endorse the 2014 quality framework on early childhood education and care;
Amendment 163 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 6 a (new) 6a. Believes that negotiating voluntary flexible working agreements makes for better work-life balance and hence encourages people, and women in particular, to remain on the labour market;
Amendment 164 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 6 a (new) 6a. Calls on Commission and Member States to study the effects of different systems providing survivor's pensions in the light of high rates of divorce and non- married couples on poverty and social exclusion of older women;
Amendment 165 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 6 a (new) 6a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to increase investments in services for 'baby citizens', so that mothers are not forced to take career breaks;
Amendment 166 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 6 b (new) 6b. Deplores the fact that in many Member States there are no guarantees as regards accessible, affordable, high- quality long-term childcare and that many women have to shorten their working time in order to devote themselves to caregiving; calls on the Commission and the Member States, therefore, to promote measures serving to reconcile support for caring tasks with ways of encouraging men to share responsibility for domestic tasks and caregiving, and calls for high- quality free public services to be set up to care for children, the sick, and dependent persons;
Amendment 167 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 6 c (new) 6c. Urges the Commission to recast the maternity, paternity, and parental leave directives as a single directive so as to give encouragement for maternity and paternity leave to be increased and placed on the same footing and for leave periods to be made equal, compulsory, non- transferable, and paid for their entire duration;
Amendment 168 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 6 d (new) 6d. Points to the need to establish compensatory and corrective mechanisms to cover time spent bringing up children or caring for dependants or people with a disability, and to treat part-time working as equivalent to full time and lower the number of years of contributions required in order to qualify for the maximum retirement pension;
Amendment 169 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 7 Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion Recital D (new) D. whereas people over 65 have income worth around 94% of the average for the population as a whole; whereas, nevertheless, around 22% of women over 65 live below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold;
Amendment 170 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 7 7.
Amendment 171 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 7 7. Stresses that
Amendment 172 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 7 7. Stresses that the sustainability of p
Amendment 173 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 7 7. Stresses that the sustainability of pension schemes can be reinforced by
Amendment 174 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 7 7. Stresses that the sustainability of pension s
Amendment 175 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 7 7. Stresses that the sustainability of pension schemes
Amendment 176 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 7 7. Stresses that the sustainability and security of pension schemes can be reinforced by diversifying saving sources and building a system that is based on public and private pillars and by complementing social security with tax contributions as well as introducing tax incentives;
Amendment 177 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 7 7. Stresses that the sustainability of pension schemes can be reinforced by complementing social security with tax contributions and/or contributions from a quota on State contributions;
Amendment 178 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 7 7.
Amendment 179 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 7 7. Stresses that the sustainability of pension schemes can be reinforced by
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion Recital E (new) E. whereas a minimum state pension above the poverty threshold for people of retirement age that is not linked to working life is a necessary step forward that will mainly benefit women, and this follows a change in focus in EU countries removing the link between the right to a pension and working life;
Amendment 180 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 7 a (new) 7a. Alerts to the risks to gender equality represented by the shifts from social security pensions to personal funded pensions since personal pensions are based on individual contributions and do not compensate for times spent caring for children and other dependent relatives or periods of unemployment, sick leave or disability; calls on the Commission and the Member States to explore ways to maintain and reinforce gender equality in reformed pension systems;
Amendment 181 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 7 a (new) 7a. Stresses that the sustainability of pension systems has to allow for the challenges posed by demographic changes, population ageing, the birth rate, and the ratio between persons in gainful employment and those of pensionable age, whose situation depends greatly on the number of years in which they worked and paid contributions;
Amendment 182 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 7 a (new) 7a. Deplores the Commission and its common tendency to ask Member States to gradually raise the pensionable age, which does not allow for generational turnover or a work-life balance, even more so when it comes to the more arduous jobs, which are often done precisely by women;
Amendment 183 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 7 a (new) 7a. Maintains that pension systems could be made sustainable if, as a matter of priority, social protection systems were to be strengthened, subsidies to environmentally unsustainable industry were to be cut, and corporate tax fraud and evasion were fought without quarter;
Amendment 184 #
7a. Considering the rising life expectancy in the EU, calls upon Member States to urgently implement the necessary structural changes to pension systems to ensure sustainable social security.
Amendment 185 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 7 b (new) 7b. Deplores the advent of the sustainability factor that links pension trends to life expectancy and population ageing; considers that the factors involved in what is termed the second demographic transition, which could increase the financial pressure on public social security systems, have to be overcome by means of an economic policy to promote development and employment through new public investment, to be financed by strengthening progressive tax revenue systems, better distribution of income, and policies to improve basic labour productivity by encouraging investment in RDI;
Amendment 186 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 Amendment 187 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 Amendment 188 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 8. Asks the Member States to
Amendment 189 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 8. Asks the Member States to eliminate obstacles – such as the increase in the minimum
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion Recital F (new) F. whereas access to a decent pension currently depends on many different factors such as lifetime income, type of employment contract, temporary employment, labour market segregation, participation in and access to the labour market, care-related career breaks and life expectancy, and these factors affect women more negatively than men;
Amendment 190 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 8.
Amendment 191 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 8. Asks the Member States to eliminate obstacles – such as the
Amendment 192 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 8. Asks the Member States to eliminate obstacles – such as the increase in the minimum contributory years necessary to be eligible for pension entitlements or the linking of pension benefits to lifetime contributions – to access to an adequate pension for people
Amendment 193 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 a (new) 8a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that both men and women have the chance to reach full contribution periods and rights to a full pension by fighting gender discrimination in employment, improving their ability to combine work with family responsibilities, improving investments in child and eldercare, establishing sound regulations on health and safety at the workplace that include gendered occupational risks as well as psycho-social risks, investing into public employment services that are able to guide women of all ages in their search for employment, introducing flexible rules for transitioning from work to retirement and pension credits for care periods;
Amendment 194 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 a (new) 8a. Points out that in its General Comment No 16 (2005) on the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights (art. 3), the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights set out the requirements of article 3 in relation to article 9 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, including the requirement of equalising the compulsory retirement age for both men and women and of ensuring that women benefit equally under public and private pension schemes;
Amendment 195 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 a (new) 8a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to follow up on the Council conclusions of 18 June 2015 on equal income opportunities for women and men: closing the gender gap in pensions, including the call for the inclusion of care periods in the calculation of social protection rights, investment in accessible and affordable care systems, the developments of indicators on the gender pension gap and to promote further research on its causes1b ; _________________ 1bCouncil conclusions of 18 June 2016 on equal income opportunities for women and men: closing the gender gap in pensions: http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/docu ment/ST-9302-2015-INIT/en/pdf
Amendment 196 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 a (new) 8a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to follow up on the Council conclusions of 18 June 2015 on equal income opportunities for women and men: closing the gender gap in pensions, including the call for the inclusion of care periods in the calculation of social protection rights, investment in accessible and affordable care systems, the developments of indicators on the gender pension gap and to promote further research on its causes;
Amendment 197 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 a (new) 8a. Recommends that the first of the three pension pillars should be promoted in order to eliminate pension inequalities, particularly gender-based ones, and that the practice of private pension schemes should be avoided, making it a voluntary option and not a practice to be prioritised;
Amendment 198 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 b (new) 8b. Maintains that differences in men’s and women’s average life expectancy can also lead, directly or indirectly, to discrimination in terms of benefits (especially where pensions are concerned) and that those differences therefore need to be taken into account; considers, moreover, that non- contributory pension schemes have to allow for the fact that women are more likely than men to be living in poverty and often bear sole responsibility for looking after their children;
Amendment 199 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 b (new) 8b. Calls on the Member States to provide for legal instruments in order to ensure the share of pension rights in case of divorce or separation;
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion Citation 2 (new) - having regard to General Comment No 16 (2005) on the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights (Article 3) and General Comment No 19 on the right to social security (Article 9) of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted at the 39th session (Geneva, 5 to 23 November 2007);
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion Recital G (new) G. whereas the right to a pension must be each person’s individual right and not a derived right, so as to guarantee everyone’s economic independence, reduce disincentives to participation in formal work and minimise gender stereotypes;
Amendment 200 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 c (new) 8c. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to study the effects of different systems providing survivor's pensions in the light of high rates of divorce and non-married couples on poverty and social exclusion of older women;
Amendment 201 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 c (new) 8c. Urges the Commission take steps as a matter of urgency to eliminate the factors preventing access to a decent pension, which essentially affect women, young people, and immigrants;
Amendment 202 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 e (new) 8d. Believes that early retirement arrangements should remain in place for workers exposed to arduous or hazardous working conditions;
Amendment 203 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 9 9. Calls on the Commission to
Amendment 204 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 9 9. Calls on the Commission to carry out a thorough assessment of the impacts on the most vulnerable
Amendment 205 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 9 9. Is deeply concerned by the impact of the austerity driven Country Specific Recommendations on pension schemes and at the negative effects the CSR have on income levels and on social transfers needed to eradicate poverty and social exclusion; Calls on the Commission to carry out a thorough assessment of the impacts on the most vulnerable of the recommendations addressed to the Member States on pensions ;
Amendment 206 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 9 9. Calls on the Commission to carry out a thorough assessment of the impacts on the most vulnerable of the recommendations and the imposition of clauses addressed to the Member States on pensions;
Amendment 207 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 9 9. Calls on the Commission forthwith to carry out a thorough assessment of the impacts on the most vulnerable of the recommendations addressed to the Member
Amendment 208 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 9 a (new) 9a. Calls on the Commission to widen its country-specific recommendations on the reform of Member States’ pension systems to include clear-cut recommendations on the need to implement measures related to women’s participation in the labour market, work- life balance, balance in terms of men’s and women’s roles in domestic tasks and the care of children and dependants, and the design of public pension schemes, and regulation of private and occupational schemes, with a view to reducing gender pay and pension gaps;
Amendment 209 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 9 a (new) 9a. Points out that, according to the evidence, the transition to a multi-pillar pension system, as the Commission is recommending, is causing further gender inequalities as regards pensions, since women have less in the way of guarantees of access to private personal and occupational pension schemes;
Amendment 21 #
Draft opinion Recital H (new) H. whereas many people with part- time contracts, essentially women (32% against 8.2% of men) may not have chosen such contracts or have done so for reasons of combining work and family and care responsibilities, and in many cases this translates into a lower pension;
Amendment 210 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 9 a (new) 9a. Calls on the Commission to support the development of gender disaggregated statistics and research to enhance the monitoring and evaluation of the effects of pension reforms on women's prosperity and well-being;
Amendment 211 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 9 b (new) 9b. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that women’s longer life expectancy entails no discrimination in the calculation of pensions;
Amendment 212 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 9 c (new) 9c. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to act upon the Council conclusions of 18 June 2015, adopted under the Latvian Presidency, on ‘Equal income opportunities for women and men: Closing the gender gap in pensions’, which called for caregiving periods to be factored into the calculation of social welfare entitlements, investment to be channelled towards accessible, affordable care systems, indicators measuring the gender pay gap to be developed, and support to be given to research into its causes;
Amendment 213 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 Amendment 214 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 Amendment 215 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 10. Urges the Member States to
Amendment 216 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 10. Urges the Member States to
Amendment 217 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 10. Urges the Member States to
Amendment 218 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 10. Urges the Member States
Amendment 219 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 10. Urges the Member States to
Amendment 22 #
Draft opinion Recital I (new) I. whereas precarious employment and labour market segregation are obstacles that stand in the way of achieving the goal of equality and social solidarity in old age;
Amendment 220 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 10. Urges the Member States to reverse any reforms of pension systems that a
Amendment 221 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 10. Urges the Member States to reverse any reforms of pension systems that aggravate imbalances in pensions,
Amendment 222 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 10. Urges the Member States to reverse any reforms of pension systems that
Amendment 223 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 a (new) 10a. Points to the risks to gender equality entailed in the change from social security pensions to personal retirement savings schemes, bearing in mind that personal pensions are based on individual contributions and do not compensate for time devoted to caregiving, periods of unemployment, sick leave, or leave on grounds of disability; calls on the Commission and the Member States to explore the avenues for maintaining and consolidating gender equality in reformed pension systems;
Amendment 224 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 a (new) 10a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to follow up on the Council conclusions of 18 June 2015 on equal income opportunities for women and men: Closing the gender gap in pensions, adopted under the Latvian presidency, including the call for the inclusion of care periods in the calculation of social protection rights, investment in accessible and affordable care systems, the developments of indicators on the gender pension gap and to promote further research on its causes;
Amendment 225 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 a (new) 10a. Urges the Commission and Member States to review maternity and paternity protection schemes, moving towards a system of parental leave at the choice of the couple which would remove the exclusive burden of supporting children from one member of the couple, which has in most cases fallen on women; notes, however, that a scheme of this kind cannot replace exclusive leave for fathers and mothers, which should coexist;
Amendment 226 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 a (new) 10a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to raise awareness of the overall pension gender gap issue amongst policy makers, businesses and civil society as well as for tailored financial literacy, information and advice for women to help them make the right investment decisions.
Amendment 227 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 a (new) 10a. Calls on Member States to invest in affordable and accessible quality care for children and other dependents as a way to support women who often have a more disrupted career than men and more often take up care responsibilities in the family.
Amendment 228 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 a (new) 10a. Stresses the importance of local and regional authorities in the field of social security and social services.
Amendment 229 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 b (new) 10b. Rejects the structural reforms in pension systems which encourage a change from predetermined benefit schemes to predetermined contribution schemes or encourage the introduction of mandatory savings components; points out that the financial crisis has shown that private savings plans are neither secure nor profitable; points out that these forms of supplementary social insurance are oriented towards a masculine profile, with high income, full- time working days, and careers without breaks;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion Recital J (new) J. whereas pension credits for men and women as a form of allowance for caring for children or family members ensure that career breaks for reasons of care, training or unemployment do not have a negative impact on pensions, and it would be desirable for such schemes to be extended to or stepped up in all the Member States;
Amendment 230 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 b (new) 10b. Calls on the Member States to put in place respectful and poverty-preventing rules for workers whose health does not allow to work until the legal retirement age; stresses that raising the retirement age without taking measures to include older workers in the labour market with quality jobs is not acceptable; considers that raising employment rates through quality jobs could help to considerably reduce the future increase of this ratio and, thereby, to alleviate the financial burden of ageing;
Amendment 231 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 b (new) 10b. Calls on the European Commission and on the Member states to run information campaigns and constantly improve pension literacy among women and men.
Amendment 232 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 c (new) 10c. Deplores the fact that the pension system reform proposals set out in the White Paper seek to link welfare benefits to growth and the state of labour and financial markets, focusing on macroeconomic aspects, but not on the social purpose of pensions; recommends that pension cover be widened, the minimum pension raised, and corrective measures supported;
Amendment 233 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 d (new) 10d. Deplores the fact that the approach underlying the measures and mechanisms proposed to ensure the sustainability of pensions, whether stemming from the Commission or related to the European Semester, and the resulting state social security reforms have led to a situation in which access to contribution-based pensions has been made more difficult in a growing number of Member States, the scope of such pensions has been reduced, and pension amounts have been frozen;
Amendment 234 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 e (new) 10e. Recommends that policies be pursued to promote an active transition to retirement by boosting work sharing and the transfer of experience and knowledge; urges the Member States to refrain from raising the maximum retirement age above 65;
Amendment 235 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 f (new) 10f. Urges the Commission to develop and allocate the funding necessary to implement an EU strategy to eliminate and prevent the gender pension gap.
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion Recital K (new) K. whereas pension credits should apply to all forms of work, from paid employees to the self-employed;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion Recital L (new) L. whereas single-parent households are particularly vulnerable; whereas single-parent households represent 10% of all households with dependent children and 50% of those are at risk of poverty and social exclusion, double the rate for the population as a whole;
Amendment 26 #
Draft opinion Recital M (new) M. whereas high unemployment rates have forced many families to rely on a single family income, in many cases the pension received by elderly people, generally the grandparents, with three generations living on this single source of income;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion Recital N (new) N. whereas policies designed to increase rates of high-quality employment among groups with the highest unemployment rates, such as women, young people, people with disabilities, people over 55, the long-term unemployed and immigrants, would help preserve the sustainability of the pension system and mitigate the dependency ratio in public systems;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion Recital O (new) O. whereas access to a decent pension currently depends on many different factors such as lifetime income, type of employment contract, temporary employment, labour market segregation, participation in and access to the labour market, care-related career breaks and life expectancy, and these factors affect women more negatively than men
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion Recital P (new) P. whereas pension cuts and freezes increase the risk of poverty in old age, particularly among women; whereas the percentage of older women at risk of poverty and social exclusion stood at 20.2% in 2014, compared with 14.6% of men, and by 2050 the proportion of people over 75 at risk of poverty could reach 30% in most Member States;
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion Citation 3 (new) - having regard to Articles 4(2), 4(3), 12, 20 and 23 of the European Social Charter;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion Recital Q (new) Q. whereas the crisis has shown that private pension funds depend on the evolution of financial markets, in many cases jeopardising the pensions of older people, who are sometimes not well informed of the implications of subscribing to these funds;
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion Recital R (new) R. whereas no ex-ante or ex-post gender impact assessments were conducted for the reforms to pension systems laid out in Commission’s white paper on pensions of 2012; whereas this is evidence of gaps in the EU’s policy of ensuring effective gender equality across the board;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion Recital S (new) S. whereas trade unions play a vital role; whereas collective bargaining arrangements need to be strengthened so as to ensure the protection of the rights of older people;
Amendment 33 #
Draft opinion Recital T (new) T. whereas, with a view to ensuring that people can exercise their right to live decently in their old age, more investment is needed to ensure free, universal public health care, a public social services network and good-quality care infrastructure for dependent persons;
Amendment 34 #
Draft opinion Recital U (new) U. whereas for pension systems to be sustainable they must be primarily underpinned by social security revenue, but they can also be reinforced by other forms of progressive taxation so as to strengthen the solvency and viability of public pension funds;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion Recital V (new) V. whereas the European Social Charter states, in Article 4.1 on the right to fair remuneration, that ‘[w]ith a view to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to a fair remuneration, the Parties undertake ... to recognise the right of workers to a remuneration such as will give them and their families a decent standard of living;’ whereas in its conclusions of 5 December 2014 (XX- 3/def/GRC/4/1/EN), the European Committee of Social Rights stated that ‘in order to ensure a decent standard of living within the meaning of Article 4§1 of the 1961 Charter, remuneration must be above the minimum threshold, set at 60% of the net average wage.’
Amendment 36 #
W. whereas the EU’s objective of achieving adequate social protection is enshrined in Article 151 of the TFEU; whereas the EU should therefore support Member States by making recommendations on improving protection for older people entitled to a pension by virtue of their age or personal situation;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion Recital X (new) X. whereas that the adjustment plans and labour reforms undertaken in the Member States, largely based on the country-specific recommendations adopted under the European Semester, have exacerbated factors hindering access to a decent pension, such as insecure and casual employment, atypical contracts, labour market segregation, the glass ceiling, the inability to reconcile work and family life, maternity and paternity leave that is unequal or not paid in full, the extension of the minimum duration of work needed to gain access to a pension, older retirement ages or the promotion of private pension schemes;
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion Recital A (new) A. whereas the recent reforms to pension systems undertaken in the Member States have: increased the retirement age; reduced indexing levels for the updating of schemes; increased contributory aspects such as the duration and continuity of periods of contribution for the purposes of entitlement to benefits; promoted the role of private pension schemes; contributed to the widening of the gender gap in pensions;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion Recital A (new) A. whereas the gender-specific employment gap, pay gap and associated pension gap, women's overrepresentation in precarious work1a and involuntary part-time work and interruptions in women's careers to care for children or other dependants contribute to the situation whereby women are particularly affected or in risk of poverty; _________________ 1aEuropean Parliament resolution of 19 October 2010 on precarious women workers (OJ C 70E , 8.3.2012, p. 1).
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion Citation 4 (new) - having regard to the conclusions of the European Committee of Social Rights of 5 December 2014 (XX- 3/def/GRC/4/1/EN);
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion Recital A a (new) Aa. whereas despite existing EU legislation and soft-law recommendations, progress in this area is extremely limited; whereas the situation is exacerbated by social dumping, together with the gender pay gap, which leads to a gender pension gap that puts elderly women at greater risk of poverty than elderly men;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion Recital A b (new) Ab. whereas universal, residence- based or flat-rate minimum pensions indexed to wages appear to be particularly favourable to gender equality, because the full basic pension is paid irrespective of the previous employment status and family conditions;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion Recital A c (new) Ac. whereas growing individual responsibility for saving decisions entailing different risks also means that individuals have to be clearly informed of the options available and the associated risks; whereas women especially have to be supported in improving their financial literacy level in order to be able to make informed decisions on an increasingly complex issue;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion Recital A d (new) Ad. whereas in 2015 women on average still earned 16 % less per hour than men for the same work; whereas the gender pay gap often leads to women receiving lower pensions than men and makes women more likely to fall into poverty after retirement, and whereas, on average across the EU, women's pensions are 39 % lower than men's;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion Paragraph -1 (new) -1. Stresses that increasing the employment level of women is a key condition for eliminating the gender pension gap (40,2%) which results from accumulative disadvantages experienced by women in the labour market throughout their lives, such as disrupted and shorter careers due to insufficient means for reconciliation of family and professional life as well as the pay gap;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion Paragraph -1 (new) -1. Reminds the fact that the right of the elderly to live in dignity and independently is enshrined in art. 25 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights;
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion Paragraph -1 (new) -1. Takes the view that gender equality, by increasing social and economic well-being, benefits not only women but society as a whole;
Amendment 47 #
Draft opinion Paragraph -1 (new) -1. Is convinced that a humane society must necessarily be based on the principle of solidarity between the generations;
Amendment 48 #
Draft opinion Paragraph -1 a (new) -1a. Deplores how the EU gender pension gap is at 39 % which is more than double the gender pay gap of 16 %, reflecting the lifelong consequences and impacts of the inequality in the labour market on women's rights;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1. Acknowledges that
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion Citation 5 (new) - having regard to Articles 2 and 3(3) of the Treaty on European Union enshrining the fundamental principle of equality between men and women;
Amendment 50 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1.
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1. Acknowledges that
Amendment 52 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1. Acknowledges that gender equality in paid labour and the implementation of the principle of equal pay for the same work and for paid work of equ
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1. Underlines that gender equality must be ensured in all areas, including in access to quality employment, career progression and reconciliation of work and private life; Acknowledges that the implementation and promotion of the principle of equal pay for the same work and for work of equal value is crucial to reducing pay and pension gaps and to eliminating the risk of poverty; calls on the EU and the Member States, in cooperation with the social partners and gender equality organisations, to set out and implement policies to close the gender pay gap; calls on the Member States to carry out wage-mapping on a regular basis as a complement to these efforts;
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1. Acknowledges that the implementation of the principle of equal pay for the same work and for work of equal value is crucial to reducing pay and pension gaps and to eliminating the risk of poverty; recognises also in this regard that key to preventing and mitigating the gender pension gap is women's access to the labour market, improved work/life balance for both men and women and addressing gender segregation in education and employment;
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1.
Amendment 56 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1. Acknowledges that the implementation of the principle of equal pay for the same work and for work of equal value
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 1. Acknowledges that the implementation of the principle of equal pay for the same work and for work of equal value is crucial to reducing pay and pension gaps and to eliminating inequalities and the risk of poverty;
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 a (new) 1a. Defines intergenerational justice as the equal distribution of benefits and burdens between the generations; considers that effective cooperation between the generations is based on solidarity and must be informed by mutual respect, responsibility and a willingness to care for one another;
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 a (new) 1a. Deplores that in many Member States there is no entitlement to available, affordable and quality child care and long-term care and many women are forced to reduce their working time to care for children, persons with disabilities and other dependents; stresses the need to ensure women and men are equal earners and equal carers by eliminating gender inequalities in paid and unpaid work and to promote equal sharing of responsibilities, costs and care; points in this respect to the need for ensuring universal access to quality (social) services of general interest and for specific proposals making for better reconciliation of work and private life; calls on the Commission and the Member States to increase their support for childcare and to introduce targets similar to the Barcelona targets on the availability of quality long-term care services;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion Citation 6 (new) - having regard to Article 8 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union enshrining the principle of equality between women and men;
Amendment 60 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 a (new) 1a. Highlights the fact that the gender pension gap is a complex phenomenon, which goes beyond the structures of pension systems and is rooted in gender- related differences on the labour market, such as unequal participation of men and women on the labour market, lack of recognition of the unpaid work provided by informal carers or lack of public services providing care for children, persons with disabilities and older persons etc.; Therefore calls upon the Commission and the Member States to act on the root causes of the gender pension gap by providing support for women to be active on the labour market, to invest in affordable and accessible care systems and to include in the of care periods in the calculation of social protection rights;
Amendment 61 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 a (new) 1a. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to take steps to combat all forms of multiple discrimination on gender basis, to ensure application of the principle of non-discrimination and equality in the labour market and in access to employment, and in particular to adopt social protection measures to ensure that women's pay and welfare entitlements, including pensions, are equal to those of men with the same experience doing the same job or a job of equal value;
Amendment 62 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 a (new) 1a. Notes that pension policies shall be combined with adequate labour and active ageing policies to reduce gender pay and pension gaps; highlights in this regard vulnerable position of women and men of racial, ethnic, religious and linguistic minority origin; stresses the importance of fight against gender stereotypes in employment;
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 a (new) 1a. Calls for the promotion of plans and policies for equality and non- discrimination in access, vocational training and the professional advancement of women in European companies with a view to eliminating segregation in education and the world of work and the glass ceiling;
Amendment 64 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 a (new) 1a. Calls on the Member States to establish appropriate penalties to curb violations of the principle of equal pay for the same work and for work of equal value;
Amendment 65 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 a (new) 1a. Notes that hitherto there has been little public discussion of the issue of the gender-related pensions gap;
Amendment 66 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 b (new) 1b. Calls for full implementation of Directive 2006/54/EC on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation, and for it to be revised with a compulsory requirement for companies to draw up measures or plans on gender equality, including actions on desegregation, the development of pay systems and measures to support women's careers;
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 b (new) 1b. Points out that there are virtually no reliable statistics available concerning the gender-related pensions gap in the Member States;
Amendment 68 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 c (new) 1c. Calls on the Member States to reform pension systems with the aim of always ensuring adequate pensions for all in view of closing the pension gap; considers that instruments to tackle the pension gap should include the adjustment of pension systems to ensure equality between women and men, the adjustment of education, career planning, improving work-life balance, investing in child and elderly care, establishing regulations on health and safety at the workplace that include gendered occupational risks as well as psycho- social risks, investing into public employment services that are able to guide women of all ages in their search for employment, introducing flexible rules for transitioning from work into retirement and care credits;
Amendment 69 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 c (new) 1c. Points out that any discussion of the issue of a gender-related pensions gap must take account of individual decisions or agreements, for example between spouses or among family members;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion Citation 7 (new) - having regard to Articles 151 and 153 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union;
Amendment 70 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 d (new) 1d. Notes that women are more often financially penalised than men as they tend to have interrupted careers, also women more often struggle to build up sufficient contributions across both the private and public pension systems as a result of the pay gap, precarious and low- paid work, part-time jobs and atypical contracts, carrying out unpaid caring, and being excluded from the labour market for long periods over the course of their lives; stresses the importance of combating indirect discrimination in pension schemes, not only in occupational schemes but also in the practices of statutory pension schemes;
Amendment 71 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 e (new) 1e. Alerts of the risks to gender equality represented by the shifts from social security pensions to personal funded pensions since personal pensions are based on individual contributions and do not compensate for times spent caring for children and other dependants or periods of unemployment, sick leave or disability; calls on the Commission and Member States to explore ways to maintain and reinforce gender equality in reformed pension systems;
Amendment 72 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 f (new) 1f. Notes that the occupational old age pensions schemes are increasingly run according to insurance principles and this might give rise to many gaps in terms of social protection1c ; emphasises that the Court of Justice of the European Union has made it clear that occupational pension schemes are to be considered as pay and that the principle of equal treatment therefore applies to these schemes as well; _________________ 1c http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender- equality/files/conference_sept_2011/dgjus tice_oldagepensionspublication3march20 11_en.pdf
Amendment 73 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 g (new) 1g. Calls on the Member States to support with public incentives for women's access to occupational and individual supplementary pensions and to make these schemes more women- friendly, with provisions supporting the introduction of unisex life tariffs and care credits, as well as derived benefits; unisex life tariffs should be adopted in both public and private funded pension schemes, so that women can receive equal pension annuities for equal contributions, even if they are expected to live longer than men;
Amendment 74 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 h (new) 1h. Stresses that closing the gender pay gap requires increased participation of women in the labour market, increased transparency in the payment process (including data broken down by sector) and calls on the Member States to implement Commission recommendations on wage transparency, gender-neutral job descriptions and classification, the reversal of the burden of proof when it comes to challenging gender discrimination in the workplace;
Amendment 75 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Highlights the
Amendment 76 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Highlights the fact that all people have the right to a decent public pension, and recalls that
Amendment 77 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Highlights the fact that all people have the right to a decent public pension, and recalls that the Union recognises the entitlement to social security benefits and social services which provide protection in the event of old age or dependency; calls on the Commission and the Member States to strengthen public pension systems over occupational and private schemes that discriminate between men and women according to monetary and actuarial criteria and aggravate the gender gap in pensions;
Amendment 78 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Highlights the fact that all people have the right to a decent
Amendment 79 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Highlights the fact that all people have the right to a decent public pension, and recalls that the Union recognises the entitlement to social security benefits and social services which provide protection in the event of old age or dependency, disability or dependency on long-term care; reminds in this context that the right of older persons to live in dignity and independently is enshrined in art. 25 of the EU Charter of Fundamental rights;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion Citation 8 (new) - having regard to the conclusions adopted by EPSCO in June 2015 entitled ‘Equal income opportunities for women and men: Closing the gender gap in pensions’;
Amendment 80 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Highlights the fact that all people
Amendment 81 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Highlights the fact that all people have the right to a decent public pension, and recalls that the Union recognises the entitlement to social security benefits and social services which provide protection in the event of old age or dependency under Article 25 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights;
Amendment 82 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2.
Amendment 83 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Highlights the fact that all people have the right to a decent public pension, and recalls that the Union recognises the entitlement to social security benefits and social services which provide protection in the event of old age
Amendment 84 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Highlights the fact that all people have the right to a decent and sufficient public pension, and recalls that the Union recognises the entitlement to social security benefits and social services which provide protection in the event of old age or dependency;
Amendment 85 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Highlights the fact that all people have the right to a decent public pension, and recalls that the Union should recognise
Amendment 86 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Highlights the fact that all people have the right to a
Amendment 87 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 a (new) 2a. Insists that first pillar schemes have to remain at the centre of our pension systems and recalls that these must be promoted and enabled while ensuring that their resources are not drained by supplementary schemes to grant universal coverage and adequate pensions; points out that the gender gap for pensions is the smallest in the first pillar and that these schemes have proven to be the most inclusive, the most fair in re-distribution and even the most cost- efficient way of combating old-age poverty;1a _________________ 1a European Commission, The Gender Gap in Pensions in the EU, 2013
Amendment 88 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 a (new) 2a. Points out that pension systems should be public, compulsory and distribution- and solidarity-based; recalls that pensions must have proper indexation arrangements to ensure their growth and progressiveness so as to enable a decent pension; urges the Member States to ensure solidarity in social-security contributions by introducing a sliding scale of contributions that more closely matches the level of the taxpayer’s income;
Amendment 89 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 a (new) 2a. Deplores that in many Member States there is no entitlement to available, affordable and quality child care and long-term care and more often women are forced to reduce their working time to care for children, persons with disabilities and other dependants; therefore calls on the Commission and Member States to increase their support for childcare and to introduce targets similar to the Barcelona targets on the availability of quality long- term care services;
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion Citation 9 (new) - having regard to Article 34 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union;
Amendment 90 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 a (new) 2a. Deplores that in many Member States, there is no entitlement to available, affordable and quality child care and long-term care and many women are forced to reduce their working time to care for children, persons with disabilities and other dependent relatives; therefore calls on the Member States to increase their support for childcare and to introduce targets similar to the Barcelona targets on the availability of quality long- term care services;
Amendment 91 #
2a. Stresses that the inadequate implementation of the Barcelona objectives on childcare facilities by the Member States seriously reduces opportunities for women to fully realise their employment potential and thus leads to pension inequalities;
Amendment 92 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 a (new) 2a. Deplores the fact that people’s patterns of employment are becoming increasingly uneven and insecure as a result of temporary work, the greater prevalence of short-term contracts, marginal employment and unemployment;
Amendment 93 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 b (new) 2b. Calls on the Member States to make the necessary investment to guarantee the right to housing, universal and free public health care, a public social services network and good-quality care infrastructure for dependent persons and children with a view to ensuring decent living standards for older persons;
Amendment 94 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 b (new) 2b. Calls for all pension schemes, including private and occupational ones, to be based on unisex actuarial criteria, and that female life expectancy is not raised as a pretext for discrimination;
Amendment 95 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 b (new) 2b. Recalls that the European Union has a primarily supporting competence in the field of pension schemes, particularly under Article 153 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU);
Amendment 96 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 b (new) 2b. Stresses that demographic change should not be advanced as a justification for the dismantling of social entitlements and benefits;
Amendment 97 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 c (new) 2c. Urges the Member States to replace household unit models by the individualisation of taxation and social security rights to ensure individual rights and to counter dependency status through a partner or through the state;
Amendment 98 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 Amendment 99 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 3 3. Calls
source: 589.439
2016/10/25
FEMM
241 amendments...
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution Citation 2 a (new) – having regard to the Protocol (No 1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) on the role of National Parliaments in the European Union,
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution Recital A a (new) Aa. whereas equality between women and men is one of the common and fundamental principles enshrined in Articles 2 and 3(3) of the Treaty on European Union, Article 8 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 23 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union; whereas gender equality should likewise be mainstreamed in all EU policies, initiatives, programmes and actions;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution Recital U U. whereas Member States have sole responsibility for the organisation of pension systems; whereas, nonetheless, the European Union has a supporting competence in this area and facilitates the exchange of experience and good practices;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution Recital U U. whereas Member States have sole responsibility for the organisation of public social security systems and pension systems; whereas, nonetheless, the European Union has a supporting competence in this area;
Amendment 102 #
Motion for a resolution Recital U a (new) Ua. whereas people who devote their time and abilities to bringing up children or caring for an old person should receive the recognition of society;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution Recital U a (new) Ua. whereas elderly people have a right to economic security through decent retirement, and to enjoy family and community life in conditions which respect their individual autonomy and which prevent and overcome social isolation or marginalisation; whereas they must have the right to access a quality public network of facilities providing support for the elderly, accessible to all citizens regardless of their socioeconomic status, particularly day centres, residential homes and home help; whereas they have a right to quality public health services allowing universal access to a healthy ageing process;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution Recital U b (new) Ub. whereas public social security systems provide the only guarantee of the right to a decent pension;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution Recital U c (new) Uc. whereas the increase in average life expectancy, particularly among women, cannot under any circumstances be used as an argument to justify raising the retirement age, since the sustainability of social security systems is not linked to this development;
Amendment 106 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 1. Calls on the
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 1.
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 1. Calls on the Commission to work closely with the Member States in establishing a strategy for putting an end to the gender gap in wages and pensions in the European Union;
Amendment 109 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 1. Calls on the Commission to work closely with the Member States in establishing a strategy for putting an end to the gender gap in pensions in the European Union; developing additional indicators and setting a clear target to monitor and reduce the pension gap;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution Recital A b (new) Ab. whereas respect for equal pay for equal work and work of equal value for men and women has been guaranteed by the Treaty1 a since the founding of the European Economic Community; __________________ 1aFormer Article 119 TEU, current Article 157 TFEU
Amendment 110 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 a (new) 1a. Calls on Member States to take measures to eliminate the pay differential between women and men and put an end to all forms of precarious employment, investing in the creation of permanent jobs and lifelong learning and professional training;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 1 b (new) 1b. Stresses that the sustainability and improvement of pension systems are obviously conditioned by the first pillar, as the financial crisis has shown; urges that pension systems need to be reformed, upholding universal and supportive public social security systems able to guarantee decent retirement conditions for all, reflecting true inter-generational solidarity;
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 2. Believes that this strategy should
Amendment 113 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 2. Believes that this strategy should seek to address not only the impact of the pension gap, in particular on the most vulnerable groups, but also its underlying causes, such as stereotypes and social norms, discrimination and segregation on the labour market, and a lack of access to childcare;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 2. Believes that this strategy should seek to address not only the impact of the pension gap, in particular on the most vulnerable groups, but also its underlying causes; notes that preventing the gender pension gap in the future depends on ensuring that women and men enjoy equal position in the labour market in terms of the pay, career advancement and opportunities to work full time;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 2. Believes that this strategy should, within the framework of EU legislation, seek to address not only the impact of the pension gap, in particular on the most vulnerable groups, but also its underlying causes, and calls for intergovernmental dialogue in areas that fall within national areas of responsibility;
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 a (new) 2a. Urges Eurostat to develop measures to highlight the economic value of invisible work in the field of raising and caring for children and looking after families and its contribution to the Member States’ GDP and, for this purpose, to work closely with the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Labour Office (ILO);
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 a (new) 2a. Believes that this strategy should include a proposal for a decent minimum pension that would ensure a life in dignity and support inclusion and active participation in society when condition for statutory requirements pensions are not met;
Amendment 118 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 b (new) 2b. Insists that the first pillar pension has to remain at the centre of our pension system and recalls that these must be promoted and enabled, ensuring that their resources are not drained by supplementary schemes and that they grant universal coverage and adequate pensions; points out that the gender gap for pension is the smallest in the first pillar and that these schemes have proven the most inclusive, the most fair in redistribution and even the most cost- efficient way of combating old-age poverty;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 2 c (new) 2c. Recalls that an adequate retirement income is essential in order to fight poverty among the elderly; stresses that the feminisation of poverty is the result of several factors including the gender pay gap, the pension gap, care responsibilities and related breaks, as well as insufficient support and taxation systems affecting households headed by single mothers; calls on the Member States to ensure that part-time workers, workers facing job discontinuity, assisting spouses and workers with career gaps or with periods where fewer hours were worked have the right to access a adequate pension scheme without any form of discrimination;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution Recital A b (new) Ab. whereas the gender gap in pensions for the population aged 65-74 is estimated at 40.2% on average for the EU28 in 2014, showing wide country variation, ranging from 3.7% to 48.8% and whereas in 14 MSs, gender gaps in pensions exceed 30%;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 3. Stresses that a multi-faceted approach is required in order to make a success of the
Amendment 121 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 3. Stresses that a multi-faceted
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 3. Stresses that a multi-faceted approach is required in order to make a success of the strategy, which must address disparities between men and women in terms of their careers, value of unpaid work as caretakers, and ability to make pension contributions as well as those
Amendment 123 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 3. Stresses that a multi-faceted approach is required in order to make a success of the strategy, which must address disparities between men and women in terms of their careers and ability to make pension contributions as well as those resulting from the way in which pension systems are organised; At the same time, there must be an increase in the sustainability of pension systems which is steadily being eroded in some Member States of the Union, such as Greece, which are affected by the Troika’s austerity measures;
Amendment 124 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 a (new) 3a. Emphasises that tackling poverty for women in old age and eliminating the pension gap in the light of the demographic change should not just be the responsibility of the statutory pension system (first pillar), but that occupational and private pension systems are also taking on a greater significance for women (second and third pillars), which the Member States should take into account in their guidelines;
Amendment 125 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 a (new) 3a. Takes the view that public social security systems will be sustainable only if new forms and sources of financing statutory pension schemes are adopted, making social security contributions payable on all financial income, and applying fiscal reforms under which people who have higher incomes and profits will be required to make a more decisive contribution to public social security systems;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 a (new) 3a. Stresses that the financial crisis of the past few years is already having a negative impact on many women’s salaries and pensions; notes that the resulting pension reforms threaten to exacerbate the gender pension gap; calls, therefore, for a critical review of these reforms and, if necessary, for them to be revised;
Amendment 127 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 a (new) 3a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to embrace a life-course approach to pension taking the whole person's working life into account, including career interruption and reduced working time due to care responsibilities, involuntary unemployment and precarious employment, without punishing workers with "non-standards" working lives;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 a (new) 3a. Emphasises that tackling the gender pension gap must be part of a holistic strategy to address the socio- economic obstacles faced by older women, especially women in vulnerable groups and marginalised communities, which must strive to improve the overall physical and mental wellbeing and social inclusion of older women;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 3 b (new) 3b. Calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure that occupational and private pension schemes are not discriminatory against women and that they do not reinforce existing patterns that already put women at a disadvantage in terms of benefits and contributions;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution Recital Β Β. whereas women enjoy poorer pension entitlements and payments than men in most EU Member States and are both over-represented in the poorest pensioner groups and under-
Amendment 130 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 4 4. Stresses that the
Amendment 131 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 4 a (new) 4a. Suggests to the Member States that they draw up national strategies on recognising informal domestic, childcare and family work by men and women, strategies which include incorporating the economic value of the invisible work carried out both by men and women in the area of solidarity between the generations and its contribution to the Member States’ GDP in national accounts, as Parliament has already proposed (resolution of 3 February 2009 on non-discrimination based on sex and intergenerational solidarity, resolution of 13 October 2005 on women and poverty in the European Union);
Amendment 132 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 4 a (new) 4a. Stresses that promoting equal financial independence for men and women, which cannot be achieved without closing the gender gap in pay and pensions, is fundamental to ensuring equality between men and women; emphasises that a comprehensive set of measures needs to be adopted to ensure gender equality in terms of lifelong access to financial resources;
Amendment 133 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 4 b (new) 4b. Is critical of the fact that there is an ‘inexplicable’ component in the pay gap which stems above all from discrimination affecting many women who are not paid the same salary as men even though they hold the same post or a post of equal value; points out that in other cases differences in pay stem from the fact that women do not hold the same jobs, which is the result of: the continued horizontal segregation or gender-specific division of labour, according to which jobs that are considered to be ‘women’s work’ are valued less highly; the continued vertical segregation, related to the so-called glass ceiling that prevents women from reaching the top, highest paid jobs; the continued use of different categories for the same work (e.g. in cleaning services, where men are hired in a higher category as maintenance technicians, while women are in a lower category such as cleaners); and the over- representation of women in part-time work which is, in addition, more poorly paid than full-time work; emphasises that the vast majority of low salaries and almost all very low salaries are paid for part-time work and points out that about 80 % of the working poor are women; stresses that all these factors also result in women having lower pensions than men;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 4 c (new) 4c. Reiterates and supports the Council’s call for a new Commission initiative setting out a strategy for equality between women and men for 2016-2020, for this to take the form of a Communication as has happened with previous strategies, and for the EU’s strategic engagement on gender equality to be enhanced, linking it closely to the Europe 2020 Strategy;
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 5 5. Calls on the Commission to work together with the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) to develop a formal and reliable indicator
Amendment 136 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 5 5. Calls on the Commission to work together with the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) to develop reliable indicators on the basis of which to identify the various factors behind the pension gap, as well as
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 5 5. Calls on the Commission to work together with the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) to develop reliable indicators on the basis of which to identify the various factors behind the pension gap, as well as to monitor that gap
Amendment 138 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 5 a (new) 5a. Considers that the gender pension gap should be regarded as a key indicator of gender inequality in the labour market as it reflects accumulated disadvantages experienced by women throughout their working lives, including horizontal and vertical segregation, discontinuous career paths as well as the gender pay gap; notes that, moreover, the current level of the gender pension gap is very close to the total wage gap (40,2%) which further reaffirms that the gap in pensions accurately demonstrates the magnitude of inequality between women and men in the labour market;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 6. Encourages the Member States to promote action to close the g
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution Recital B B. whereas women generally enjoy poorer pension entitlements and payments than men and are both over-represented in the poorest pensioner groups and under- represented in the wealthiest;
Amendment 140 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 6.
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 6. Encourages the Member States
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 6.
Amendment 143 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 a (new) 6a. Reiterates the need for clear harmonised definitions, to facilitate comparison at EU level, of terms such as gender pay gap, gender pension gap, remuneration, direct and indirect pay discrimination, work treated as ‘equal’ and work of the same value; points out that due to the various types of work contracts that exist, both statutory and contractual, the current calculation of the gender pay gap can lead to a distorted understanding of the problem of equal pay, which will also be reflected in the pension gap; calls on the Commission to analyse these possible distortions and to propose suitable solutions, including the introduction of mandatory pay audits for companies listed on stock exchanges in the EU Member States, and the possibility of sanctions in cases of non-compliance;
Amendment 144 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 a (new) 6a. Calls on the Commission and the EU Member States to carry out comprehensive gender impact assessments on all social security reforms, especially on pension's systems which may have a negative impact on women's employment and pension rights, such as cuts in day- care and elderly facilities or freeze and cuts in pension provisions;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 a (new) 6a. Calls on the Member States immediately to disburse severance payments and end-of-service payments as soon as the period of pension entitlement begins, in order to prevent situations of economic difficulty, to reduce subsequent burdens regarding advance payments on loans and to reduce women's dependence on men;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 b (new) 6b. Urges Member States, employers and trade unions to draft and implement serviceable, specific job evaluation tools to help determine work of equal value and thus to ensure men and women receive equal pay and hence, in the future, equal pensions; encourages firms to carry out annual equal pay audits, to publish the data with the utmost transparency and to narrow the gender pay gap;
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 a (new) 6a. Calls for the Commission to analyse the gender pension gap as part of the European Semester by introducing a gender-pension-gap indicator and to make country-specific recommendations on eliminating the pension gap;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 b (new) 6b. Asks the Commission to address the gender pension gap in the EU 2020 framework and reiterates its call on the Commission and Member States to use gender disaggregated data in the European Semester monitoring process, and to define additional gender-specific indicators and targets to combat and monitor the gender pension and pension coverage gaps;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 c (new) 6c. Stresses that women belonging to more vulnerable groups (women with disabilities, women caring for dependents, women from minority groups, women refugees and asylum seekers, women with little or no training, etc.) are even more affected by pay and pension inequality, given that they are often in jobs requiring fewer skills, with less responsibility and lower pay, they suffer considerable social isolation and are financially more heavily dependent on their spouse or other family members;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution Recital B a (new) Ba. whereas pension gap reflects the higher proportion of women working part-time, by lower hourly wages, and less years in employment due to the unpaid work performed by women and mothers as caretakers in their families;
Amendment 150 #
Motion for a resolution Subheading 3 Reducing inequalities in terms of
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 7 7. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that EU legislation against
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 7 7. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that EU legislation against gender discrimination is properly implemented and its progress systematically monitored, with a view to making sure that men and women have an equal ability to make pension contributions;
Amendment 153 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 7 7. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that EU legislation against gender discrimination is properly implemented, and possibly revised, with a view to making sure that men and women have an equal ability to make pension contributions;
Amendment 154 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 7 7. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that EU legislation against indirect and direct gender discrimination is properly implemented, with a view to making sure that men and women have an equal ability to make pension contributions;
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 7 7. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that EU legislation against gender discrimination is properly implemented, with a view to making sure that men and women have an equal ability to make pension contributions, which entails raising wages, safeguarding collective bargaining, combating all forms of precarious employment, including part-time work, most of which is done by women and which leads to only partial pension entitlements, creating permanent jobs and promoting lifelong learning and professional training;
Amendment 156 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 7 7. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure that EU legislation against gender discrimination is properly implemented, with a view to making sure that men and women have an equal ability to make pension contributions and to initiate infringements procedures against those Member States that do not comply with the EU Equality Directives;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 8. C
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 8. Condemns unequivocally gender pay disparities resulting from discrimination and reiterates its call for Directive 2006/54/EC to be revised
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 8. Condemns unequivocally
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution Recital C a (new) Ca. whereas, as a result of demographic change, in future fewer and fewer active employees will have to provide for ever more pensioners, which means that private and occupational old age pension schemes will become increasingly important;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 8. Condemns unequivocally gender pay disparities resulting from discrimination at the workplace and reiterates its call for Directive 2006/54/EC to be revised in order to ensure more equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and pay;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 a (new) 8a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to recognise the importance of informal care and the investment in the human capital provided within the family in both, social and economic terms;
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 9. Supports efforts to tackle stereotypes that contribute to horizontal and vertical segregation on the labour market by encouraging women to take up jobs and careers in innovative growth sectors which are currently dominated
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 9. Supports efforts to tackle horizontal and vertical segregation on the labour market by eliminating gender inequalities and discrimination in employment and encouraging women to take up jobs and careers in innovative growth sectors which are currently dominated mainly by men as a result of the persistence of stereotypes;
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 9. Supports efforts to tackle horizontal and vertical segregation on the labour market by encouraging women to take up jobs and careers in innovative growth sectors which are currently dominated mainly by men as a result of the persistence of stereotypes; calls, in this context, for the Member States to raise awareness among teachers so that girls are encouraged from a young age to live their own lives, in keeping with their own wishes and ideas;
Amendment 165 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 9. Supports efforts to tackle horizontal and vertical segregation on the labour market by encouraging women to take up jobs and careers in innovative growth sectors which are currently dominated mainly by men as a result of the persistence of stereotypes; stresses the need to take immediate measures to stop the discrimination that exists even in recruitment procedures;
Amendment 166 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 9. Supports efforts to tackle horizontal and vertical segregation on the labour market by encouraging women to take up jobs and careers in innovative growth sectors which are currently dominated mainly by men as a result of the persistence of stereotypes, and to overhaul and oppose norms according to which, for example, wages are structured so as to place a premium on traditionally male- dominated jobs;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 a (new) 9a. Stresses the need for all professions which are exercised more by women than by men at long last to be given the status and the levels of pay they deserve, and, with that aim in view, calls for an EU-wide study into the objective comparability of professions which takes account of factors such as working conditions, physical and mental strain and level of responsibility and the case law of the CJEU;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 a (new) 9a. Calls on the Member States to supervise their labour markets in order to curb the horizontal and vertical segregation of women and reduce the pay gap between men and women;
Amendment 169 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 9 b (new) 9b. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to offer women greater incentives to work for longer and with shorter breaks, in order to increase their degree of economic independence today and in the future;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution Recital D D. whereas the aim of pension policies is to
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 10. Points to the importance, in a context in which the burden of responsibility for pensions is shifting from state pension systems to self-funded schemes, of ensuring that access to the financial services covered by Directive 2004/113/EC is non-discriminatory; takes the view that transferring responsibility from public social security systems to personal finance schemes implies a downgrading of those systems and their underlying principle of inter-generational solidarity, whilst at the same time promoting the lucrative business of insurance companies and ending the universal nature of the public social security systems that guarantee access to ageing with dignity for all;
Amendment 171 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 10. Points to the importance, in a context in which the burden of responsibility for pensions is shifting from state pension systems to self-funded schemes, of ensuring that access to the financial services covered by Directive 2004/113/EC is non-discriminatory; stresses the importance of existing EU legislation being strengthened by including gender-neutral job classification and evaluation systems and measures to promote pay transparency, and by making it possible to apply sanctions such as fines, sentences and disqualification from receiving state aid in the event of equal pay rules not being complied with;
Amendment 172 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 10. Points to the importance, in a context in which the burden of responsibility for pensions is shifting from state pension systems to self-funded schemes, of ensuring that access to the financial services covered by Directive 2004/113/EC is non-discriminatory; emphasises that all pension contributions must be calculated and levied in a gender- neutral manner;
Amendment 173 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 a (new) 10a. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to increase transparency, access to information and certainty for members and beneficiaries of occupational pension schemes, taking into account the Union principles of non- discrimination and gender equality; Calls on the Member States to ensure that their occupational pension funds guarantee an equitable spread of risk between generations, to protect the pensions of future generations against short-term policies;
Amendment 174 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 a (new) 10a. Points out that the female unemployment rate is underestimated given the fact that many women are not registered as unemployed, particularly those who live in rural or remote areas or help out in family firms, along with many of those who devote themselves exclusively to household tasks and childcare; regrets that while this situation increases the pension gap it also, in many cases, prevents access to public services such as social security, benefits, maternity leave, sick leave, childcare facilities, etc.;
Amendment 175 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 a (new) 10a. Urges the Member States to replace household unit models by the individualisation of taxation and social security rights to ensure individual rights and to counter dependency status whilst phasing out the systems based on the male breadwinner model;
Amendment 176 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 a (new) 10a. Calls for a review of all the incentives available under the tax and pensions system and of their impact on the gender pension gap, the abolition of counter-productive incentives and the individualisation of entitlements;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 b (new) 10b. Calls attention to the fact that only two Member States have transposed, clearly and sufficiently, Directive 2006/54/EC; calls on the Commission to continue monitoring the transposition and implementation of this Directive in the Member States to ensure that rights laid down in EU legislation are fully implemented and observed, including, if necessary, through the commencement of infringement procedures;
Amendment 178 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 b (new) 10b. Observes that in order to ensure decent living conditions for disable persons it is necessary to provide compensations for the additional costs of living associated with disability and to coordinate it with pension systems and special integration polices;
Amendment 179 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 10 c (new) 10c. Calls on Member States to pay special attention to migrant women who often have not acquired pension rights in their country of origin and therefore lack economic independence, especially in case of divorce;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution Recital D D. whereas the aim of pension policies is to make sure that pension systems give all EU citizens a decent income
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution Subheading 4 Reducing career-related
Amendment 181 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 11. Calls on the Commission swiftly to deliver on the commitments it gave under both the Roadmap and the Strategic Engagement, in order to enable anyone
Amendment 182 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 11. Calls on the Commission swiftly to deliver on the commitments it gave under both the Roadmap and the Strategic Engagement, in order to enable a
Amendment 183 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 11. Calls on the Commission swiftly to deliver on the commitments it gave under both the Roadmap and the Strategic Engagement, in order to enable anyone
Amendment 184 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 11. Calls on the Commission swiftly to deliver on the commitments it gave under both the Roadmap and the Strategic Engagement, in order to enable anyone wishing to do so to strike a
Amendment 185 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 a (new) 11a. Calls on the Member States to put forward specific initiatives to validate the skills acquired in bringing up, caring for dependent persons and carrying out household management so that these skills are taken into account when individuals re-enter the labour market; points out that the assessment of soft skills is central to the ‘skills passport’, in accordance with the best traditions of national efforts to match supply and demand on the labour market;
Amendment 186 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 a (new) 11a. Calls on the Commission to present an ambitious and comprehensive package of legislative and non-legislative measures on work-life balance as part of its 2017 work programme, including revision of the directives on maternity and parental leave and proposing directives on paternity and carers’ leave;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 a (new) 11a. Calls on the Commission to base its policy proposals on family mainstreaming as a way to stop the demographic decline that jeopardizes the sustainability of pension schemes;
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 b (new) 11b. Emphasises that the gender gap in pensions reflects the fact that the working life of women is a great deal more affected by responsibilities caring for dependent family members that that of men, and that for this reason women have more breaks in their career, fewer promotions and pay rises, and greater recourse to part-time work than men; stresses that as a result women are at a clear disadvantage compared to men if employment-related contributions are the main factor determining pension rights, especially if there are no means of compensating for career breaks and mitigating the effects on pensions of a shorter contribution period;
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 11 c (new) 11c. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to take steps to encourage men to share equally in domestic responsibilities and in caring for children and other dependants, in particular, through incentives for men to take parental and paternity leave, which will strengthen their rights as parents, ensure a greater degree of equality between women and men and more appropriate sharing of family and housekeeping responsibilities, and enhance women’s opportunities to participate fully in the labour market, which will help lessen the gender gap in pay and pensions;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution Recital D D. whereas the aim of pension policies is to make sure that pension systems give all EU citizens a decent income
Amendment 190 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Calls on the Member States to
Amendment 192 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Calls on the Member States to make it easier for employees to negotiate voluntary flexible working arrangements giving them a better balance between their working and private lives, so that they do not have to favour one over the other when
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Calls on the Member States to make it easier for
Amendment 194 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Calls on the Member States to make it easier for employees to negotiate voluntary flexible working arrangements giving
Amendment 195 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Calls on the Member States to make it easier for employees to negotiate voluntary flexible working arrangements in line with national practice, giving them a better balance between their working and private lives
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Calls on the Member States to make it easier for employees to negotiate voluntary flexible working arrangements giving them a better balance between their working and private lives, so that they do not have to favour one over the other when they are obliged to take on greater responsibility for looking after homes and families; supports 'smart working' as a flexible form of employment which does not necessarily require a person to be physically in the workplace, but which nevertheless complies with maximum daily and weekly working hours, in accordance with the law and collective bargaining, without reducing or altering rights and duties in respect of female workers' contributions to pension schemes;
Amendment 197 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Calls on the Member States to make it easier for employees to negotiate voluntary flexible working arrangements giving them a better balance between their working and private lives, so that they do not have to favour one over the other when they are obliged to take on greater responsibility for looking after homes and families, and so that their free choice regarding family responsibilities are respected;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 a (new) 12a. Asks Member States to ensure that social pension systems take into account the value of domestic and care work and look for compensation mechanisms for those whose care responsibilities have caused career interruptions and are forced into non-standard, part-time or precarious work;
Amendment 199 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 a (new) 12a. Calls on the Member States to provide incentives for men to use their parental and paternity leave, in order to make family life more balanced, so that both spouses bear responsibility for the care of children or other family members;
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution Citation 2 b (new) – having regard to Protocol (No 2) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality,
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution Recital D D. whereas the aim of pension policies is to make sure that p
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 b (new) 12b. Draws attention to the increasing prevalence of mandatory flexible working hours: weekend work, more irregular, unpredictable and extended working hours, etc.; points out that the demand for flexibility is greatest amongst part-time workers, who are mostly women, and that this means that more women than men have their working hours changed from week to week, making it even harder, especially for single mothers and women caring for dependent family members, to strike a balance between work and family life;
Amendment 201 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 13 Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 13 Amendment 203 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 13 13. C
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 13 13. Calls on the Member States, on the basis of a pooling of best practice, to introduce ‘
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 13 13. Calls on the Member States, on the basis of a pooling of best practice, to introduce ‘care credits’ to offset breaks from employment taken in order to provide informal care to family members and to count those credits towards pension entitlements fairly;
Amendment 206 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 13 a (new) 13a. Calls on the Member States to uphold the rights of female workers who are increasingly turning to low-wage or part-time jobs and are the victims of discrimination, particularly when they become mothers and are forced to take career breaks to take care of their children;
Amendment 207 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 13 a (new) 13a. Considers that as a principle effective policy aimed at eliminating and preventing the gender pension gap should focus on increasing women's employment and opportunities for women to make equal pension contributions as opposed to enhancing compensation mechanisms within the pension systems;
Amendment 208 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 14. Points out that a proper work-life balance cannot be achieved unless
Amendment 209 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 14. Points out that a proper work-life balance cannot properly be achieved unless decent childcare facilities are available; calls on Member States not only to meet the Barcelona targets at the earliest opportunity, and no later than by 2020, but at the same time to offer families which prefer a different child-rearing model the freedom to choose;
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution Recital D D. whereas the aim of pension policies is to make sure that the pension systems of each Member State give all EU citizens a decent income that safeguards them against the risk of social exclusion;
Amendment 210 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 14. Points out that a proper work-life balance cannot be achieved unless
Amendment 211 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 14. Points out that a proper work-life
Amendment 212 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 14. Points out that a proper work-life balance cannot be achieved unless decent childcare facilities are available; emphasises, in that connection, the need for childcare facilities to be available throughout rural areas; calls on Member States to meet the Barcelona targets at the earliest opportunity, and no later than by 2020;
Amendment 213 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 14. Points out that a proper work-life balance for men and women cannot be achieved unless
Amendment 214 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 14. Points out that a proper work-life balance cannot be achieved unless decent
Amendment 215 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 14. Points out that a proper work-life balance cannot be achieved unless decent childcare facilities are available; calls on Member States to meet the Barcelona targets at the earliest opportunity, and no later than by 2020, whilst at the same time congratulating those Member States which have already met both targets;
Amendment 216 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 a (new) 14a. Deplores that in many Member States there is no entitlement to available, affordable and quality child care and long-term care and many women are forced to reduce their working time to care for children, persons with disabilities and other dependents; stresses the need to ensure women and men are equal earners and equal carers by eliminating gender inequalities in paid and unpaid work and to promote equal sharing of responsibilities, costs and care; points in this respect to the need for ensuring universal access to quality (social) services of general interest and for specific proposals making for better reconciliation of work and private life; calls on the Commission and the Member States to increase their support for childcare and to introduce targets similar to the Barcelona targets on the availability of quality long-term care services;
Amendment 217 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 a (new) 14a. Calls on the Member States to share out pension rights in cases of divorce and legal separation, in keeping with the principle of subsidiarity; notes that occupational old-age pension schemes are increasingly run in accordance with insurance principles and that this could give rise to many gaps in social protection1a; emphasises that the Court of Justice of the European Union has made it clear that occupational pension schemes are to be regarded as pay and that the principle of equal treatment therefore applies to these schemes as well; 1a http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender- equality/files/conference_sept_2011/dgjus tice_oldagepensionspublication3march20 11_en.pdf.
Amendment 218 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 a (new) 14a. Urges the Commission to support the Member States, including through the provision of EU funding, in developing facilities that offer high-quality and affordable childcare services to the poorest members of society, with the aim of meeting the Barcelona targets as quickly as possible;
Amendment 219 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 a (new) 14a. Points out that families are a source of social cohesion and should be seen as pillars of society as a whole and that women and mothers, by bringing up and caring for their children, are working for the future of society;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution Recital D D. whereas the aim of pension policies is to make sure that pension systems give all EU citizens a decent income that safeguards them against the risk of poverty and social exclusion;
Amendment 220 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 a (new) 14a. Calls on the Member States to encourage employers to consider the needs of sudden leave requirements in women with young children;
Amendment 221 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 b (new) 14b. Encourages the Member States to ensure social security benefits for part- time temporary, seasonal and home-based workers, with necessary flexibility in the time setting and autonomously of the children's age;
Amendment 222 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 c (new) 14c. Calls on the Member States to enable the transfer of the employee after the maternity or parental leave back to the same work arrangement;
Amendment 223 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 15 15. Calls on the Member States to assess, on the basis of accurate, comparable data, the impact that their pension systems are having on the pension gap and its underlying factors; recommends that the Member States address the issue of reducing the disparities in pensions between women and men as an economic goal in reforming their pensions systems so as always to guarantee proper pensions for all and enable the existing disparities in pensions to be eliminated;
Amendment 224 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 15 15. Calls on the Member States to assess, on the basis of accurate, comparable data, the impact that their pension systems are having on the pension
Amendment 225 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 15 a (new) 15a. Emphasises the importance for policy making of having reliable, comparable and available quantitative and qualitative indicators related to gender gaps in pensions , as well as gender-based statistics, and recalls in this regard the role of the European Institute for Gender Equality; calls on the Member States to provide Eurostat with annual gender pay gap and gender gaps in pensions statistics so that it is possible to assess developments throughout the EU;
Amendment 226 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 15 a (new) 15a. Welcomes the equalising effect on pensions of the Test-Achats ruling which prohibited sex-based actuarial factors in insurance contracts and made unisex premiums and benefits mandatory in private insurance schemes, including pensions; notes that while this ruling applies only to the private schemes, the unisex rule in pensions constitutes a good practice in terms of reducing the gender pension gap;
Amendment 227 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 15 a (new) 15a. Calls for all pension schemes, including private and occupational ones, to be based on unisex actuarial criteria, and that female life expectancy is not raised as a pretext for discrimination;
Amendment 228 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 15 b (new) 15b. Welcomes the decision of some Member States to apply the unisex rule also to their occupational pension schemes in order to ensure equality between women and men in all areas of pension calculation; encourages other Member States to consider following suit, if appropriate;
Amendment 229 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 15 b (new) 18a. Stresses the importance of combating indirect discrimination in pension schemes, not only in occupational schemes but also in the practices of statutory pension schemes; emphasises that the CJEU has made it clear that occupational pension schemes are to be considered as pay and that the principle of equal treatment therefore applies to those schemes as well;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution Recital D D. whereas the aim of pension policies
Amendment 230 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 16 16. Calls on the Member States to introduce, in particular for the benefit of the most vulnerable groups, measures to address inequalities that are experienced throughout people’s working lives and could result in pension disparities; takes the view, in this connection, that account should be taken of the appropriate annual updating of pensions;
Amendment 231 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 16 16. Calls on the Member States to introduce, in particular for the benefit of the most vulnerable groups, measures to address inequalities that are experienced throughout people
Amendment 232 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 16 a (new) 16a. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to ensure application of the principle of non-discrimination and gender equality in the labour market and in access to employment, and to combat all forms of multiple discrimination, including discrimination against ethnic minorities and persons with disabilities and discrimination on the grounds of gender, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation and gender identity, and to ensure that women's pay and welfare entitlements, including pensions, are equal to those of men with the same or similar experience doing the same job or a job of equal value;
Amendment 233 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 16 a (new) 16a. Calls on the Member States to tackle the issue of the future pensions of the new generations, in particular those of young women, given the growing pressure on many European pension schemes which, unless they are substantially reformed, will lead to low pensions at too old an age for today's young women, as well as for men;
Amendment 234 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 16 a (new) 16a. Urges Member States to comply with and enforce legislation on maternity rights so that women do not suffer disadvantages in terms of pensions because they have been mothers during their working lives;
Amendment 235 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 17 a (new) 17a. Calls on the Member States to introduce an individual basic income for people in old age which must not be less than the poverty-risk threshold (60% of the national average income); emphasises, in that connection, the importance of easy access to additional forms of assistance which women are often too ashamed to claim;
Amendment 236 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 18 Amendment 237 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 18 18. Calls on the Commission to take a closer look at how the pension gap might be affected by a shift
Amendment 238 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 18 18. Calls on the Commission to take a closer look at how the pension gap might be affected by a shift in pension systems towards more flexible arrangements for pension contributions and the establishment of pension entitlements and payments, with regard to the calculation of the duration of contribution to the pension system, value of the unpaid care-taking work of mothers and fathers, and to arrangements for gradual retirement;
Amendment 239 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 18 18. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to take a closer look at how the pension gap might be affected by a shift in pension systems towards more flexible arrangements for pension contributions and the establishment of pension entitlements and payments, with regard to the calculation of the duration of contribution to the pension
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution Recital D D. whereas the aim of pension policies is to make sure that pension systems give all EU citizens a decent income that safeguards them against the risk of social exclusion and means they can continue to be part of society because they are guaranteed an acceptable standard of living;
Amendment 240 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 18 a (new) 18a. Calls on the Member States and the European Union institutions to promote studies on the effects of the gender gap on the pensions and financial independence of women, taking account of issues such as the ageing population, gender differences in health conditions and life expectancy, how family structures have changed and the number of single- occupancy homes have risen, and differences in women’s personal situations; calls too for them to draw up possible strategies to put an end to the gender gap in pensions.
Amendment 241 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 18 a (new) 18a. Calls on Member States to take extra care not to exacerbate the existing gender pension gap where equalising state pension age, in particular allowing women enough time to plan for retirement.
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution Recital E E. whereas the pension gap tends to
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution Recital E E. whereas the pension gap tends to leave women more at risk of economic social exclusion, vulnerability, poverty and dependence than men;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution Recital E E. whereas the pension gap tends to leave women more at risk of economic vulnerability
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution Recital E E. whereas the pension gap tends to leave women more at risk of economic vulnerability
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution Recital Ε Ε. whereas the pension gap
Amendment 3 #
Motion for a resolution Citation 15 a (new) – having regard to its resolution of 9 June 2015 on the EU Strategy for equality between women and men post 2015,
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution Recital E a (new) Ea. whereas the difference in pay and pensions is even more pronounced among women with multiple disadvantages, such as women with disabilities, women caring for dependents, women from minority groups, women refugees and asylum seekers, women with little or no training, etc.;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution Recital E a (new) Ea. whereas some legal systems in the EU maintain the practice of non- individualisation of tax and social security systems; whereas the non- individualisation of social security rights makes women dependent on men, as they may have been granted only derived rights through their relationship to men;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution Recital F Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution Recital F F. whereas, owing to their longer life expectancy, women are likely, on average, to require more pension capital than men to cover their retirement and whereas this capital may be available to them from the inheritance left by their deceased husband;
Amendment 34 #
Motion for a resolution Recital F F. whereas
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution Recital F F. whereas, owing to their longer life expectancy, women are likely, on average, to require more pension
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution Recital Ζ Ζ.
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution Recital G G. whereas the lack of comparable, comprehensive, reliable and regularly updated data on the basis of which to gauge the
Amendment 38 #
Motion for a resolution Recital G G. whereas the lack of comparable, comprehensive, reliable and regularly updated data on the basis of which to gauge the size of the pension gap and the relative importance of the factors that contribute to it m
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution Recital G a (new) Ga. whereas statistics conflate the gross salaries of men and women of all sectors, qualifications, positions and family situations, resulting in a highly simplistic figure which does not reflect reality;
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution Citation 21 a (new) – having regard to the international study by Make Mothers Matter (MMM), entitled ‘What Matters to Mothers in Europe’ carried out in the context of the 7th EU framework research project ‘Family Platform’ in 2011,
Amendment 40 #
Motion for a resolution Recital I I. whereas the average pension gap for the European Union as a whole in 2012 concealed major disparities between Member States; whereas by way of comparison the lowest gender pension gap is 3.7% and the greatest is 48.8%;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution Recital I I. whereas the average pension gap for the European Union as a whole in 2012 concealed major disparities between Member States, and whereas this should be a reason for dialogue among the Member States to be stepped up with a view to identifying ways of solving the problem;
Amendment 42 #
Motion for a resolution Recital I a (new) Ia. whereas pension schemes are still based on the ‘male breadwinner’ model and are geared to a life pattern traditionally experienced mostly by men, characterised by an uninterrupted period of some 45 years’ full-time employment;
Amendment 43 #
Motion for a resolution Recital I b (new) Ib. whereas women’s lives rarely conform to this model, and whereas as a result of traditional structures and standards women are still employed less often, for a shorter time and in particular more precariously, and are furthermore subject to greater age discrimination on the labour market later on; whereas under this system the only rights women enjoy are often derived rights, such as the ‘widow’s pension’;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution Recital J J. whereas that
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution Recital J J. whereas that gap, which is the product of a range of factors, is a reflection of the
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution Recital J J. whereas that gap, which is the product of a range of factors, is a reflection of the gender imbalance that exists in relation to careers and family life, as well as to the
Amendment 47 #
Motion for a resolution Recital K Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution Recital K K. whereas the full extent of the pension gap
Amendment 49 #
Motion for a resolution Recital K K. whereas the full extent of the pension gap, which is the product of all
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution Recital -A (new) -A. whereas the real scandal lies not in a possible pay gap but in the failure to recognise the housework, child rearing, care and family work carried out equally by women and men, and the lack of opportunities to reconcile, and choose freely between, family and working life, which affects women and men equally;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution Recital M M. whereas the pension gap differs from one woman pensioner to another according to social, marital and/or family status;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution Recital M M. whereas the pension gap differs from one woman pensioner to another according to social, marital and/or family status and affects persons on low incomes and in part-time employment more; whereas, in view of this, a one-size-
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution Recital M M. whereas the pension gap differs from one woman pensioner to another according to personal, social, marital and/or family status; whereas, in view of this, a one-size-
Amendment 53 #
Motion for a resolution Recital N N. whereas the
Amendment 54 #
Motion for a resolution Recital N N. whereas
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution Recital N N. whereas there appears to be a positive correlation between the pension gap and the number of children brought up and whereas the gender pension gap of married women and mothers is much greater than that of single women without children; whereas, in view of this, the inequalities suffered by single mothers are likely to be exacerbated when they retire;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution Recital N N. whereas there
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution Recital N N. whereas there
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution Recital N N. whereas there appears to be a positive correlation between the pension gap and the number of children brought up; whereas, in view of this, the inequalities suffered by
Amendment 59 #
Motion for a resolution Recital N a (new) Na. whereas the female unemployment rate is underestimated, given the fact that many women are not registered as unemployed, and particularly those who live in rural or remote areas, many of whom also devote themselves exclusively to household tasks and childcare; whereas this creates disparities in their pensions;
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution Recital A A. whereas in 2012, in the EU-28, the gender gap in pensions, which may be defined as the gap between the average pre-tax income received as a pension by women and that received by men, stood at 38% in the 65 and over age group; whereas this figure is not acceptable for the EU, which has gender equality as one of its founding principles and the right of older people to a life in dignity, independence and social participation as one of its fundamental rights;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution Recital N a (new) Na. considering long absence in the labour market of women who provide long-term informal care to family members, especially dependent children, elderly or disabled;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution Recital N a (new) Na. whereas the pay levels and thus the pension entitlements of fathers are unaffected, or may even be positively affected, by the number of their children;
Amendment 62 #
Motion for a resolution Recital O Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution Recital O Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution Recital O Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution Recital O O. whereas traditional working time arrangements make it
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution Recital O O. whereas traditional working time arrangements make it impossible for couples in which both partners wish to work full time to strike a proper work-life balance; whereas disrupting a career path in an attempt to combine private and professional lives exacerbates the difficulties confronting women with financial problems and increases the day- to-day uncertainty as to their economic independence;
Amendment 67 #
Motion for a resolution Recital O O. whereas traditional working time arrangements make it impossible for couples in which both partners wish to work full time to strike a proper work-life balance since the types of leave linked to family reasons are different for men and women;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution Recital P P. whereas
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution Recital P P. whereas,
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution Recital A a (new) Aa. whereas according to the 2015 Commission Report on equality between women and men in the EU in half of the EU Member States the gender pension gap has increased in the past 5 year and in some Member States between 11 and 36% of women have no access at all to any pension;
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution Recital P P. whereas, despite the efforts made to improve the situation in this area, the employment rate among women still falls far short of the Europe 2020 strategy targets
Amendment 71 #
Motion for a resolution Recital P P. whereas, despite the efforts made to improve the situation in this area, the employment rate among women still falls short of the Europe 2020 strategy targets and is still lower than that among men; whereas the employment rate contains no information about duration and type of employment and is thus limited in what it can tell us about pay and pension levels;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution Recital P a (new) Pa. whereas the funding of schools, pre-schools, universities and the care of elderly people results in the long term not only in the creation of jobs but also in women obtaining high-quality employment, which will in the long term have a positive effect on their pensions;
Amendment 73 #
Motion for a resolution Recital Q Q. whereas women are more likely than men to
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution Recital Q Q. whereas women who are mothers are far more likely than men to
Amendment 75 #
Motion for a resolution Recital Q Q. whereas women are more likely than men to be obliged to take career breaks and work on a part-time basis
Amendment 76 #
Motion for a resolution Recital Q Q. whereas women
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution Recital Q Q. whereas women are more likely than men to be obliged to take career breaks, have precarious contracts, and work on a part-time basis as a result of their disproportionate responsibility
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution Recital Q Q. whereas women are more likely than men to be obliged to take career breaks
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution Recital Q a (new) Qa. whereas the new generations, and therefore young women in particular, according to a number of analyses, will be heavily penalised compared to previous generations with regard to both the pensionable age and to the amount of their pensions;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution Recital A a (new) Aa. whereas increasing women's labour market participation contributes to efforts to reduce the gender gap in pensions within the EU, as there is a direct link between labour market participation and the level of pension;
Amendment 80 #
Motion for a resolution Recital Q a (new) Qa. whereas voluntary work, which is to a large extent carried out by women and is one of the fundamental pillars of our society, means giving up both time and pay, which also contributes to the pension gap in old age;
Amendment 81 #
Motion for a resolution Recital R R. whereas the number of years worked
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution Recital R a (new) Ra. whereas the Barcelona targets can help create a better work-life balance for women, by enabling them to stay in the labour market for longer, without having to take career breaks or give up work altogether;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution Recital R a (new) Ra. whereas the period of care for dependent members of the family, mainly for children but also elderly and disabled members of the family is not properly taken into account when calculating pension entitlements;
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution Recital R b (new) Rb. whereas maternity, paternity and parental leave are necessary and vital instruments in order to minimise women's career breaks;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution Recital R b (new) Rb. whereas the importance and value of the informal work of women providing care for children and other dependant members of the family should be taken into account and reflected in pension entitlements;
Amendment 86 #
Motion for a resolution Recital S S. whereas there continues to be a gender pay gap in the European Union; whereas that gap, which stood at 16.3% in 2014
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution Recital ΙΘ S. whereas there continues to be a large gender pay gap in the European Union; whereas that gap, which stood at 16.3 % in
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution Recital S S. whereas there continues to be a gender pay gap in the European Union; whereas that gap, which stood at 16.3% in 2014, is caused in particular by discrimination and segregation resulting in the over-representation of women in sectors where pay is lower than in sectors dominated mainly by men; whereas this gap is part of the widening social, economic and gender inequalities in the European Union, a situation that is undeniably linked to the neoliberal and austerity policies imposed by the Commission and the EU, which are responsible for rising poverty (the EU-28 now has 124 million people at risk of poverty and social exclusion), rising unemployment (more than 20 million unemployed people in the EU-28) and greater inequalities in the distribution of wealth;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution Recital S S. whereas there continues to be a gender pay gap in the European Union; whereas that gap, which stood at 16.3% in 2014, is caused in particular by discrimination and segregation resulting in the over-representation of women in sectors where pay is lower than in sectors dominated mainly by men; whereas other factors such as career breaks or involuntary part-time work to combine work and family responsibilities, stereotypes, undervaluing of women's work and differences in levels of education and professional experience also contribute to the gender pay gap;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution Recital A a (new) Aa. whereas the gender pension gap would probably be even greater if account were taken only of contributory pensions, and not of the final-salary pensions obtained by women in the public sector;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution Recital S a (new) Sa. whereas in most cases, women are paid less than men for the same work and are forced to choose to work part-time in order to have a better work-life balance – all this to the detriment of their pensions;
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution Recital S a (new) Sa. whereas successive fixed-term contracts may leave room for indirect discrimination;
Amendment 92 #
Motion for a resolution Recital S b (new) Sb. whereas women employed as replacements have no right to maternity leave even when the contract expires one day before giving birth;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution Recital S c (new) Sc. whereas discrimination related to pregnancy and parental leave was the most prominent form of discrimination in the workplace at the EU level and whereas women are still the main responsible for childcare;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution Recital S d (new) Sd. whereas 79.76% of the persons who reduced their working time to care for their youngest child aged less than eight were women and whereas it is scientifically proven that mothers who work in the first year of a child's life has detrimental effects on child's cognitive development;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution Recital T T. whereas the strengthening of the linkage between contributions and earnings, taken together with the increasingly prominent role played by second- and third-pillar schemes in pension systems, is shifting the risk of the appearance of gender-specific factors in the pension gap towards private-sector providers; whereas the gender gap for pensions is the smallest in the first pillar and whereas the shift from state-run pension systems to private funded pensions puts gender equality at stake and increases the risk of female old-age poverty as private funded pensions are based on individual contributions and do not compensate for care-related leaves that are mostly taken by women;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution Recital T a (new) Ta. whereas a low pension combined with rising health and care costs impacts not only on the health of the women concerned, but also on the budgets and employment opportunities of women in the next generation, and may thus have a further adverse effect on women’s future pensions;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution Recital T a (new) Ta. whereas pre-existing inequalities in the labour market, such as the gender pay gap, are mirrored in cumulated disadvantages in first and second pillar pensions, resulting in lower pensions and a risk of poverty in old age;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution Recital T b (new) Tb. whereas an individual, basic old age provision based on place of residence seems particularly likely to benefit gender equality because it is paid independently of former employment or family circumstances and thus counteracts the otherwise high risk of poverty among female pensioners;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution Recital U U. whereas Member States have sole responsibility for the organisation of pension systems;
source: 592.340
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