Edited by Elaine Fultz, Markus Ruck and Silke Steinhilber, ILO SRO-Budapest, Budapest, 2003
This book is available in pdf in English and French
Preview [pdf] in Slovak and Russian
This book shows that gender equality was not a major driving force in social security reforms since 1989 in the countries concerned.
The study, part of the ILO project on Strengthening Social Security in Central and Eastern Europe through Research and Technical Cooperation, found that in the area of family benefits, all three countries succeeded in targeting scarce resources to those most in need—thus softening some of the financial shocks associated with the shift toward a market economy. Given that women have lower average earnings and higher rates of poverty, this targeting benefited them accordingly, says the study.
« On the other hand », said Elaine Fultz, Senior Specialist on Social Security at ILO SRO-Budapest, ?this change shifted the nature of the support from wage replacement to poverty alleviation, and it altered the status of beneficiaries from holders of personal rights to petitioners of the state. At the same time, income testing provides a disincentive to economic activity that threatens to capture some women in a trap of dependency on these benefits?.
While all three countries have extended equal treatment to men and women with respect to childcare benefits, notes the study, these reforms have not as yet been associated with any behavioral changes. In two of the three countries, large cuts in family benefits left working parents, mostly women, with considerably less support for efforts to balance family and professional responsibilities. Concerning pensions, the study shows that in all three countries the first decade of transformation brought greater losses of protection for women as compared to men.
These losses reflect two broad trends across Central Europe. First, the strong appeal of individualism in all areas of life shaped the politics of pension reform, leading to benefits that more closely reflect contributions paid—thus a curtailment of redistribution. Given the wage gap between women and men, this trend caused disproportionate losses for women. Second, tight fiscal limitation in all three countries constrained the option for achieving equal treatment, leading to reforms that imposed greater disadvantages on women in some regards.
Three issues in the study are highlighted as meriting attention vis-à-vis bringing about greater gender equality in social security. First, in nations that have privatized their pension schemes, the use of separate estimates of life expectancy for men and women in computing benefits would put women at considerable risk. Second, there is great need for adherence to minimum benefit standards that ensure all those with low earnings receive decent levels of protection in retirement. Finally, the study deplores the fact that childcare has been devalued for pension purposes in two of the three countries.
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| ILO Film |
| Fully fit at work |
Film about the advantages of employing persons with disabilities. As this ILO film (Fully Fit at Work) shows, not only may people with disabilities be more productive, they may actually be more skilled in some jobs than non-disabled people. Produced for the ILO by the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing.
Watch the film online in Polish with English subtitles. Duration: 21 min 11 sec
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Press release in English and
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World Day Against Child Labour
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Education: The right response to child labour
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A package for social and economic progress
The Albanian pilot of the One UN Programme will make use of the experiences of the International Labour Organization (ILO) gained in the field. As the only tripartite organisation within the United Nations system, the ILO plays a key role in involving social partners in the recently launched UN reform process.
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