1
Challenges faced by women
50+ in the labour market
Halina Potocka, AGE Vice-President
Women's careers after 40 and 50
Budapest
20 November 2010
What is AGE?
2
AGE Platform Europe
• a network bringing together European, national
and regional non-profit senior organisations
• set up in 2001 following a process of discussion on
how to improve co-operation between older
people's organisations in the EU + to improve older
people’s representativity at EU level.
• a non-profit making international association,
financed by membership fees and an annual
subsidy from the European Commission
(PROGRESS programme).
AGE network
• Gathers 156 associations of older people, or
working with and for older people, from 27
EU States
• Represents 28 million older people across
the EU, but promotes the interests of the 150
million older people in the EU
• A network that does not stop
growing!
AGE objectives
• To voice and represent the interests of older and
retired people in the European Union
• To improve the dialogue and cooperation between
its members and the European Institutions.
• To support networking - and best practice
exchange-between older people’s groups in Europe
(EU platform)
• To disseminate information towards its members
and influence decision makers at EU level (+
national level through AGE national member
organisations)
AGE structure
• General Assembly (once a year): adoption of work
programme, budget and applications for membership
•
Administrative Council (twice a year):
implementation of work programme + policy
decisions
•
Executive Committee: policy guidance +
adherence to statutes and internal rules
•
Expert Groups: on age discrimination,
employment, pension, social inclusion, health, new
technologies and accessibility
•
Secretariat in Brussels: day-to-day management of
the association + liaising with the EU institutions
AGE policy areas
Policy influencing and development on 6 areas:
• non discrimination
• employment of workers > 50, active ageing
• social inclusion, the fight against poverty
• social protection (pension reform, minimum
income)
• health care and long term care of the elderly
• accessibility to new technologies, transport
(mobility)
AGE lobbying activities
• Participation in consultative committees set
up by the Commission
• The European Parliament Intergroup on
Ageing
• The Social Protection Committee.
• Participation in key events organised by EU
Presidencies or other EU key stakeholders
• Regular press releases + opinion paper to
deliver AGE key messages
• Networking: direct contact with EU Officials
• Joint campaigns on key issues: Elder Abuse
8
Specific challenges that
women 50+ face in the
labour market
1. Age discrimination
2. The gender employment gap
3. The gender pay gap
3. The gender pension gap
4. AGE recommendations
Age discrimination
46% of Europeans think that discrimination on the
basis of age is widespread. At the country level,
this view is most widely held in Hungary (79%)
and the Czech Republic (74%).
An examination of the development over the past
five years shows that the feeling that age
discrimination has increased is most widely held
in Hungary (63%) and the Czech Republic
(53%).
The analyses reveal that citizens aged 40 or over
are more likely to say that discrimination on
ground of age is widespread.
Fundamental right
Employment is a fundamental right, represented
by Article 15 of the Charter for Fundamental
Rights, which adds to the responsibility of policymakers to find the most effective solutions for the
reduction of unemployment. It is clear that
inequalities in our societies have increased,
since there is evidence that some groups are
particularly affected: older and younger
employees.
This week Equality Summit focused on the fight
against discrimination and on the promotion of
equality in the workplace. Crisis => sometime
convenient excuse for reducing support for
effective mechanisms and measures.
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Gender employment gap
Older women much less involved in paid employment
than older men: EU average – 18% for 55-64 (age 2454: 15%)
Part-time much more common among female workers
(men: 7%, women: 30%)
Why: bulk of informal care still provided mainly by
women 50+ squeezed between demands from their
ageing parents and grand-parental duties=> sandwich
generation
Yet employment policies on reconciliation for work and
family life target parents with young children
The gender pay gap
Across Europe women earn on average 17.8%
less than men (17.5%-Hungary) and in some
countries the gender pay gap is widening
(Estonia 30.3%)
Gap is even wider for older women
Will increase due to cuts in social services such
as subsidised long-term care and childcare
Institutional mechanisms and systems on
wage setting can influence the pay gap.
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The gender pension gap
Poverty risk for older women is higher in EU15
(21%) than in the ten new Member States (10%)
Gender differentials are notably higher in Sweden,
Austria, Germany, Finland and Ireland; also in
Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia and Cyprus
Gender pension gap is even higher than gender
pay gap (in BU: 34%, 2005)
The average EU at-risk-of-poverty rate for older
women is of 22 percent against 16 percent for
older men
AGE
Recommendations
Adopt an EU « carer’s leave directive (EC
has included this in its work programme
2011)
Adopt more flexible working conditions to
enable informal carers to reconcile work
and family life
Forbid pro-actively all gender/age
discrimination in the workplace
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AGE Recommendations
Address gender inequalities in pension
systems => fair compensation for carer’s
breaks, labour market segregation, minimum
pensions
Promote use of unisex mortality tables for
calculation of annuities in funded schemes
European social systems must move to a
better adjustment and recognition of
societal role which falls on mature
workers.
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Equality Summit 15-16 Nov
2010 Brussels
„We'll face the real impact of an ageing population and
a shrinking work-force from 2012 onwards. […] We
are losing an important source of labour, skills and
knowledge. […] When we speak about promoting
equality, non-discrimination, we should not forget the
need to reduce inequality. Not only are people at risk
of discrimination affected by higher unemployment
rates, they also face a higher risk of poverty than the
rest of population. Today, 84 million Europeans still
live at risk of poverty. This is simply not acceptable.
An important step to fight against poverty will be
through the Europe 2020 flagship initiative, the
Platform against poverty, which I intend to launch
early December.
Equality Summit 15-16
Nov 2010, Brussels
This Platform will serve as a visible expression
of solidarity towards the most vulnerable
members of our societies. Its design owes
much to the input from civil society
stakeholders. […] The objective of the
Platform is to tackle poverty in a wider
context, because individuals experiencing
poverty are often affected by multiple
interrelated problems that often trap them in a
vicious cycle of disadvantage and inequality.
László Andor EU Commissioner for Employment, Social
Affairs and Inclusion Closing remarks at the Fourth Equality
Summit Fourth Equality Summit Brussel
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
AGE Platform Europe
Rue Froissart 111
1040 Bruxelles – Belgique
Contact person: Rachel Buchanan
E-mail: rachel.buchanan@age-platform.eu
tel. : +32.2.280.14.70
fax : +32.2.280.15.22
www.age-platform.eu