It is estimated that the retirement pensions received by women are, on average, 40% lower than those received by men. While pay gaps are still on the agenda and debates, this reality continues to express the injustice of treatment between men and women in the world of work. In this context, which remains perpetually unequal, how can the extent of this difference be explained and by what means is it possible to remedy it? What about the pension calculation? Does it disadvantage women?
Although gender inequalities have been expressed and controversial for many years now, nothing really seems to be moving in a system where women continue to be paid less than men. This Wednesday, May 24, 2023, the Court of Auditors issued its annual report on the financing of Social Security and pointed to the huge differences in retirement pensions between men and women. Still according to the Court of Auditors, the figure of this difference could reach 40% and it would be partly due to the rules for calculating pension rights.
In estimates made in 2020, the pension of women was thus equivalent to the sum of 1,154 euros gross per month, while that of men peaked at 1,930 euros gross. In the case where women also receive a survivor’s pension after the death of their spouse, this gap was reduced to 28%, but remained high with a pension estimated at 1,401 euros gross for a woman and 1,955 euros gross for a man.
According to the Court of Auditors, these differences are due to different professional backgrounds. Thus, women more often work part-time than men during their careers and it is reported that the arrival of children in the home has a greater impact on the work of mothers than on that of fathers.
In 2019, women therefore received, on average, 22.3% less than men. In question ? Differences in working hours, but also in diplomas, qualifications, access to continuing education or even discrimination. If these reasons are among the main ones cited, other causes such as the method of calculating the retirement pension have been singled out.
The Court of Auditors is formal: the rules for calculating pension rights penalize women. For example, the calculation of the reference salary is set according to the 25 best annual salaries, but this condition more often favors men than women. Early retirement schemes are also favorable to men with, in the case of long careers, only 5% of women eligible for the scheme compared to 18% of men.
The report carried out by the Court of Auditors, however, mentions the addition of “all the quarters of maternity among the quarters assessed”, as reported by Merci pour l’info, while the increases in the duration of insurance for children are not retained . A situation that calls more than ever on the Court of Auditors to call for a massive fight against these inequalities and the development of new compensatory measures.
