Years of the research: 2014
Country: Romania
Language: Romanian
Keywords:
Abstract:
Until recently, social protection systems operated on the idea that the man is the breadwinner, while the women are responsible for housework, childcare and care of the elderly. Policies of the pension systems often create stimuli that affect the decision of women to seek paid employment or to commit more unpaid work within the family. As women often have a lower participation in the labour market and more frequent career are over represented in occupations poorly paid, have a higher preponderance among people with atypical employment contracts, and they are likely to accrue lower rights to pensions compared to men. Pensions are the largest component of income for older people, particularly women, unlike other types of income such as rental income, interest, etc. belonging de facto to the entire household. Thus, they constitute an important determinant of economic independence of beneficiaries: pensions are a key milestone of elderly individual's capacity to lead their lives and make decisions.
Researchers:
Type of research: national
Target group: Men and women of working age from Bucharest
Sample:
Desk research – legislation and quantitative analysis of statistical data (national statistical data, EUROBAROMETER, EU-LFS and EU-SILC) in the first phase, followed by a qualitative analysis (4 focus-groups) in the second phase. The themes for the focus-group discussions were: gender equality in the labor market; caring for dependents (children, elderly) and unpaid work in the family; awareness of the proposed legislative amendments to equalize the retirement age to 65 years (women–men) by 2035; accessing pension system (public-private); vulnerabilities that generate inequalities; health care insurance in pension system. 4 focus-groups were conducted: -1 focus group with female participants; - 1 focus group with male participants; - 2 mixed focus group (gender parity has been retained). The participants in each focus group were people born after January 1, 1971, grouped in three age categories: 30-34 years, 35-39 years and 40-43 years. However, as secondary instrument, sheets recruitment of persons participating in focus groups was used. The following information were collected: family composition, number of children in the family, the number of adult dependents in the family , education and occupational status of participants in focus groups and husbands/wives their focus groups participants' age and their family's net income in the previous month that was conducted qualitative research.
Aims/Objectives/Background:
The specific objectives of the project are: 1. Diagnosis of the pension system in Romania in terms of respecting the principles of gender equality; 2. Identification of factors that generate gender inequalities in pensions; 3. Gender impact in pension system; 5. Policy recommendations to build a fair pension system from a gender perspective. Changes of the Romanian pension system were not accompanied by national studies on gender impact, although it was known that there is a wide range of complexities that affect the sexes differently. A number of ILO studies and researches showed that measures to reform pension systems in Central and Eastern Europe countries may produce negative effects on the situation of women in these countries. Unfortunately, the results of these studies were poorly understood and taken into account by the actors involved in the reform. The new architecture of the pension system in Romania developed on the World Bank model generates a strengthen of the link between the amount of pension received and the social security contributions paid throughout the active period. Redistributive components of the system are very few even in Pillar I (in this case, because the formula for calculating pensions is based on pension points). In such a situation, gender inequalities in the labor market will be replicated in the pension system. Government policies in the pension system have not considered any tools to be offset, at least partially, the disadvantages caused by gender segregation in the labor market. In our country, the elderly of both sexes face many problems such as low income, high risk of poverty, reduced mobility, high levels of social exclusion, lack of social services care etc. Women are affected to a greater extent than men partly because their life expectancy is higher, resulting in a higher share of women in the population aged 65 and over (59.7%). In addition, the pension level is lower for women. It should also be remembered that older women show a higher concentration in rural areas, where the availability of social care services is problematic. According to statistics provided by the CNPP, in 2012, women who worked in the national economy have benefited from an average monthly pension for old age of 787 lei, while the average pension for old-age men was 1027 lei, resulting in a gender gap of 23.4%. The gap almost doubled when taking into account the beneficiaries from the former pension scheme for farmers, it reached 45.6%. At national level there is a great lack of transparency on gender structure of the statistical data related to the average level of pension allocations and the number of retired beneficiaries. For example, statistical information on the survivor's pension is not presented in gender structure; this constitutes a major barrier to gender analysis. We can say that the beneficiaries of survivors' pensions are mostly women, given that life expectancy for women is higher than that of men and that a large number of married women are housewives and therefore are not eligible for a pension of their own. And if we talk about the survivor's pension must not forget that its average level is totally satisfactory, it represents less than half the average total pension for old age (for example, only 43.3% in 2012). Internationally, there are a number of researches on gender in social security for the elderly. Some are focused on policies from the perspective of gender equality and the welfare state by addressing issues such as division of labor within the family, the family model and the changes in family structure, relationships between state, market and family (Ginn, Street and Arber 2001; Meyer and Pfan-Effinger, 2006; Steinhil, 2006; Frericks, Maier and de Graaf, 2007). Other studies analyzed by gender lenses the pension rights in a variety of pension schemes (Ginn, 2004; Kidd, 2009), while others focus more on the implications of the gender of the various features of parametric pension systems as such the retirement age of women and men. Finally, there are studies that focus on assessing national and international experiences in pension reform from a gender perspective (Coke, 2001. Castel and Fox, 2001; Steinhilber 2009; Bonnet Geraci, 2009; Elveren, 2013).
Findings/outcome/conclusion/research questions:
In the first phase of the project was developed a study to analyze the Romanian legislation on pensions in the light of the principles of gender equality. A fair pension system for women and men is one that meets the needs of both sexes and offers each individual the opportunity to provide an adequate income in old age. Because women still assume most of family responsibilities (raising children, caring for the elderly or other dependents, housework etc.), they risk accumulating insufficient pension rights in all pension schemes as such schemes are based almost exclusively on paid work. In addition, it must be said that a fair pension system is not one with uniform rules for men and women, but one in which it is paid attention to details that may impact differently the two sexes. As men and women situation in the labor market tends to differ, uniform rules on pensions normally lead to pension income distributions very different for men and women. The main regulations impacting gender Romania's pension system aims to: 1. Make a difference between the standard retirement ages for the two sexes different, while both the minimum and maximum contribution periods are the same for both men and women. This disadvantages women for two reasons: (a) if women would like to work more, the pressure of society could force them to retire when they reach the standard age; (b) women would have less time available to achieve the complete contribution stage, especially in a situation where they generally have a history of fractional occupancy compared to men. 2. The formula for calculating the pension based on pension credits which take into account the full contribution history, disadvantages also the women because of their career breaks; 3. The survivor's pension. We can say that the beneficiaries of survivors' pensions are mostly women, as long as the life expectancy of women is higher than men, and a large number of married women are housewives and therefore are not eligible for a pension of their own. Romanian law provides for the spouse of a survivor's pension amounting to 50% of the pension of the deceased spouse, given that studies show that the survivors need more than half of the income of the couple - usually 65 or 70% - to -and relatively constant standard of living after the death of her husband. Insufficient level of survivor's pension is therefore a significant cause of the higher incidence of poverty among elderly widows than married women. An appropriate system of social protection implies also a suitable health insurance system to cover long-term care needs of the elderly. Changes in social, economic and demographic in recent years have led to the proliferation of European research in the field of pensions and health care for the elderly. Analysis of the role of how the health care insurance applicable to pensions increase efficiency of medical system long-term care should be based on both quantitative data concerning the functioning of the whole system, as well as studies conducted among users of health services. Based on these issues at this stage of the project was conducted and a study on social health insurance in the European pension systems. The analysis of factors with high potential to generate gender inequality in pensions system revealed that women have a lower participation in the labor market compared to men; they are paid less on average than males, spend fewer hours per year on average in paid work and work fewer years, especially because they devote more time to children, dependent elderly care, domestic work, etc.; women are more likely to work in the informal sector; females are the majority among people with atypical employment contracts (temporary contracts or part-time contracts); the share of employment in services is higher in women, a sector that often turn to atypical employment contracts etc. Both men and women who participated in the qualitative research in Bucharest believe that men make longer contributions to the pension system compared to women in Romania. On the other hand women earn less than men because: men perform work ""harder"" than women; women are less paid; birth and child care generate discriminatory practices by employers against women. All participants in the focus groups, regardless of gender or age group, believe that most pensions in Romania are in terms of value ""under the limit of decency"" and far below of what it should be to meet needs of living for an elderly person. Women have equal opportunities with men to find jobs in Romania in sectors less segregated when employers want people well trained, competent and to whom they are willing to offer higher wages, as long as women are willing to sacrifice their family life and to pay more attention to employment. Time dedicated to children declines as children's age grows. Unpaid work dedicated to raise children is a strong argument in support of the differentiation of the retirement ages for men and women. Reality shows us that there is a sufficiently consistent support for the principle of gender equality in raising children in Romania. The hypothesis to be tested on a representative sample within a quantitative research to gain generalizing role. Regarding the proposal to equalize the retirement age for men and women to 65 years old until 2035, participants were aware of the implications that these changes will have on their personal life, but also on their family life: negative impact on health status, lack of financial resources to cover daily living, job insecurity after 60 years due to reduced work capacity, etc.). They also considered that the decision amending the pension law in order to equalize the retirement age of women and men progressively is due mainly to the problems of sustainability of public system pensions. The number of employees is much lower than the retired and the way of construction of the public pension system is based on the principle of solidarity between generations is directly affected negatively.
Publication/reports: 5 research reports in Romanian language, available at request: - Studiu privind analiza diagnostic a sistemului românesc de pensii din perspectiva respectării principiilor privind egalitatea de gen/Diagnosis of the Romanian pension system in terms of respecting the principles of gender equality; - Asigurările sociale de sănătate în sistemele europene de pensii/Health Insurance in European pension systems; - Studiu privind factorii generatori de inegalităţi de gen în sistemul de pensii românesc/Study on the causes of gender inequality in the Romanian pension system; - Model de evaluare a impactului de gen al reformei pensiilor/Model for assessing the gender impact of pension reform; - Direcţii de acţiune pentru un sistem de pensii echitabil din perspectiva dimensiunii de gen/Policy recommendations for a fair pension system from a gender perspective. 1 book - Maden L. (coord.), Ghenţa M., Matei A., Sănduleasa B., 2015. 'Dimensiunea egalităţii de gen în sistemul românesc de pensii/Gender equality in Romanian pension system', Universitara Publishing House, ISBN 979-606-28-0156-4, DOI: 10.5682/9786062801564 1 presentation in international conference - Mladen L., Ghenţa M., 'Pensions Reform in Romania and its Implications on Pension Adequacy for Women', at SGEM Conference on Political Sciences, Law, Finance, Economics and Tourism, 2-5 Septembrie 2014, Albena, Bulgaria.
Financed by: Ministry of National Education – National Authority for Scientific Research (ANCS)
Contact person: Luise Mladen, luisemladen@hotmail.com
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