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Women's Pensions Network
"If we get it right for women, we get it right for everyone"
The EOC is co-ordinating the Women's Pensions Network. We are a diverse group of organisations, united by a common desire to demonstrate the considerable and growing consensus around women's pensions and calling for significant reform to the pensions system to make pensions work for women.
The current high profile and wide ranging debate on pensions reform means we have a once in a generation opportunity to deliver a pensions system which works not just for men but also for women. To do that it must fully recognise and reward the vital unpaid caring work that largely women do and ensure that women who are often stuck in low paid work do not slip through the net and risk spending their retirement in poverty. We need to find a system that can recognise all contributions, in partnership with the responsibility to save when able.
The gender pay gap over women's and men's working lives becomes an even bigger pensions gap in retirement because of the penalty that many women face for doing unpaid work caring for dependant children or older relatives or spending time in low paid, often part time work. Many argue that in the future women's working patterns will simply converge with men's, and therefore women's pensions will gradually cease to be an issue. But they couldn't be more wrong. This problem won't solve itself. Women's greater likelihood of undertaking unpaid caring commitments - raising children or caring for older people and disabled people - means that they will continue to suffer severe disadvantage compared to men when it comes to building up a pension. No amount of labour market reform will help today's or tomorrow's women pensioners. We need to find a solution that can work for all generations of women.
Women are two thirds of pensioners and their needs and the desire for independence and equality should be at the heart of the pensions debate, not seen as a "minority" issue. A solution which does not address the needs of women will fail. Women cannot afford to miss out this time.
Furthermore, it isn't just women's working lives that are complex. Increasingly, men are take breaks from paid work to care for children or older relatives. They also take time out to re-train or re-skill after being made redundant or switching careers. Designing a pensions system that can cope with this fragmented working pattern is essential for 21st century living.
That is why we say if we get it right for women, we'll get it right for everyone.
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