{"id":25496,"date":"2019-12-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/finmarie.com\/old-age-poverty-among-women-is-being-poor-female\/"},"modified":"2022-10-04T10:34:33","modified_gmt":"2022-10-04T09:34:33","slug":"old-age-poverty-among-women-is-being-poor-female","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/finmarie.com\/en\/old-age-poverty-among-women-is-being-poor-female\/","title":{"rendered":"Old-Age Poverty Among Women \u2014 Is Being Poor Female?"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to a 2015 OECD study, the risk for German women to slide into old-age poverty is just as high as the general average risk, which is between 13 and 19%. There are, however, specific groups among women that have a higher risk<\/strong> than others, with single women leading the way. The threat of the women\u2019s pension gap, which is one of the main reasons for old-age poverty among women<\/strong>, among single women is above 25%. Whereas divorced women, widows, and married women have slighter less risks of 16, 14, and 4.5%, respectively.<\/p>\n

Since 2015, the amount of single women pensioners that rely on basic security benefits (unemployment benefit II or Hartz IV) has verifiably increased. Prognoses assume that this number will have nearly doubled by 2036 and affect 28% of all single women. This is, among other reasons, due to the fact that statutory pensions will decline by 16% until 2030.<\/p>\n

Reasons For Old-Age Poverty Among Women<\/h2>\n

There are several reasons f\u00fcr old-age poverty among women<\/strong>. Along with a higher life expectancy and lesser tendency to tackle their own retirement security<\/a>, the main reasons for the women\u2019s pension gap are the career breaks women tend to make more often due to pregnancy and child-care, as well as their smaller income in regards to men.<\/p>\n

It is true, of course, that in most European countries, women continue to be better educated and employment figures among women keep rising. This will lead to changes in female income perspectives<\/strong> in the long run. Yet, traditional and rigid pension systems still expose women to disadvantages throughout their career life. It is, hence, up to politics to even up the women\u2019s pension gap<\/strong>. Supposedly, the countries will adapt their pension systems to modern women\u2019s lives<\/strong> over time, but there\u2019s still a long road ahead of us. And even in countries that have managed to reduce both, their gender employment gap and their gender pay gap, discriminations for women on the labor market remain.<\/p>\n

This means:<\/p>\n

even, if younger women might be entitled to higher pensions<\/strong> in the future, inequality is still an important factor.<\/p>\n

The Meaning Of The Gender Pension Gap<\/h3>\n

The gender pension gap refers to the monetary difference in retirement income between women and men. It\u2019s represented in percent. The gender pension gap is an immediate consequence of the gender pay gap.<\/p>\n

In 2012, the gender pension gap within the EU was 38%. That means, female pensioners in the EU received 38% less money on average than their male counterparts. There are rather significant differences between the countries<\/strong>, however, that hugely influences the meaning of the gender pension gap in each individual nation.<\/p>\n

In some member states, the women\u2019s pension gap<\/strong> was as low as 4%. In others, it was an alarming 46%. Generally, men\u2019s pension income is higher than women\u2019s in 28 EU states. Estonia showed the smallest gender pension gap with a 5% difference, it is, however, a country, where pensions are very, very low altogether. In rich Luxemburg the gender pension gap in 2012 was an astonishing 45%, in the Netherlands it was 42%, in Austria 39%, and in France 36%.<\/p>\n

Apart from the differences within the EU nations, the situation for women generally is an unfavorable<\/strong> one. The women\u2019s pension gap is the result of increasing inequalities that women have to deal with during their lives and in different economic, social, and cultural frameworks.<\/p>\n