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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Equal pension rights for men and women
— a realistic perspective | | Author(s) | Linda Luckhaus, Sue Ward |
| Journal title | Journal of European Social Policy, vol 7, no 3, August 1997 |
| Pages | pp 237-253 |
| Keywords | Pensions ; Sexual equality ; Rights [elderly] ; European Union ; Western Europe. |
| Annotation | This article summarises the pattern of European Union (EU) pension provision, as it currently exists, highlighting recent and possible future developments and the reasons for these. It describes and evaluates two notions of pensions equality. One, the equal treatment approach, is derived from EC (European Communities) equality law; the other, compensatory approach, originates from within EU pension schemes themselves. The equal treatment approach is shown to have serious limitations, not least its restriction to paid workers and its propensity to result in 'levelling down'. However, it has been influential in securing abolition of pension rules discrimination against married women. The compensatory approach is reflected in three types of benefit rules which break the link between pension entitlement and full-time, continuous, higher-paid work shown to be a feature of many EU schemes. The advantage of this approach is its potential for maximising people's welfare, especially unpaid women carers, when they reach old age. A third notion of equality is developed, which builds on the strengths of both approaches, prospects for which are discussed in the light of trends in EU pension reform. |
| Accession Number | CPA-980120204 A |
| Classmark | JJ: TM8: IKR: WFC: 76 |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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