Abstract
Drawing on the philosophical differentiation between sex and gender, this article focuses on structural mechanisms of gender discrimination within European pension systems. For this purpose, the article distinguishes between two dimensions of the gender category: the work behaviour dimension and the care dimension. It is argued that the differentiation between employment and family work on the one hand and specific living arrangements on the other is structurally implemented within old age security systems. All countries have established earnings-related schemes which, to various extents, refer to former earnings and continuous working careers. Many of the earnings-related schemes incorporate family work in one way or another by granting entitlement for the care of children and/or elderly or handicapped people. Most of the schemes are combined with additional benefits for spouses and/or survivors, referring to married heterosexual couples. Only a few countries have additionally established universal pension schemes based on residence instead of employment or family work. The comparative analysis of pension systems in the 15 EU member states gives an idea about national varieties of structural gender differentiation.
Highlights
During the last 20 years, various feminist scholars have dealt with the discrimination of LEITNER women within the welfare state
Average benefit levels of women are lower than those of men (e.g. Pearce, 1978; 1993; Schaffner Goldberg and Kremen, 1990), on the other hand, social security regulations directly or indirectly reflect gendered assumptions about social risk protection (e.g. Sainsbury, 1994; 1999). This structural gender bias of welfare states has been acknowledged within mainstream discussions (e.g. Esping-Andersen, 1996)
The following analysis mainly stems from feminist research on earnings-related benefit provision as well as on the privileged treatment of traditional family arrangements
Summary
Drawing on the philosophical differentiation between sex and gender, this article focuses on structural mechanisms of gender discrimination within European pension systems. For this purpose, the article distinguishes between two dimensions of the gender category: the work behaviour dimension and the care dimension. It is argued that the differentiation between employment and family work on the one hand and specific living arrangements on the other is structurally implemented within old age security systems. Nous argumentons que la différentiation entre d’une part l’emploi et le travail familial et les arrangements spécifiques de vie de l’autre est mise en œuvre structurellement dans les systèmes de sécurité pour les personnes âgées. European Union, gender discrimination, old age security, pension systems, sex discrimination
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