25 Amendments of Vilija BLINKEVIČIŪTĖ related to 2016/2061(INI)
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Recital A (new)
Recital A (new)
A. whereas the gender-specific employment gap, pay gap and associated pension gap, women's overrepresentation in precarious work1a and involuntary part-time work and interruptions in women's careers to care for children or other dependants contribute to the situation whereby women are particularly affected or in risk of poverty; _________________ 1aEuropean Parliament resolution of 19 October 2010 on precarious women workers (OJ C 70E , 8.3.2012, p. 1).
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas despite existing EU legislation and soft-law recommendations, progress in this area is extremely limited; whereas the situation is exacerbated by social dumping, together with the gender pay gap, which leads to a gender pension gap that puts elderly women at greater risk of poverty than elderly men;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas universal, residence- based or flat-rate minimum pensions indexed to wages appear to be particularly favourable to gender equality, because the full basic pension is paid irrespective of the previous employment status and family conditions;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas growing individual responsibility for saving decisions entailing different risks also means that individuals have to be clearly informed of the options available and the associated risks; whereas women especially have to be supported in improving their financial literacy level in order to be able to make informed decisions on an increasingly complex issue;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Recital A d (new)
Recital A d (new)
Ad. whereas in 2015 women on average still earned 16 % less per hour than men for the same work; whereas the gender pay gap often leads to women receiving lower pensions than men and makes women more likely to fall into poverty after retirement, and whereas, on average across the EU, women's pensions are 39 % lower than men's;
Amendment 61 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to take steps to combat all forms of multiple discrimination on gender basis, to ensure application of the principle of non-discrimination and equality in the labour market and in access to employment, and in particular to adopt social protection measures to ensure that women's pay and welfare entitlements, including pensions, are equal to those of men with the same experience doing the same job or a job of equal value;
Amendment 66 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)
Paragraph 1 b (new)
1b. Calls for full implementation of Directive 2006/54/EC on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation, and for it to be revised with a compulsory requirement for companies to draw up measures or plans on gender equality, including actions on desegregation, the development of pay systems and measures to support women's careers;
Amendment 68 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)
Paragraph 1 c (new)
1c. Calls on the Member States to reform pension systems with the aim of always ensuring adequate pensions for all in view of closing the pension gap; considers that instruments to tackle the pension gap should include the adjustment of pension systems to ensure equality between women and men, the adjustment of education, career planning, improving work-life balance, investing in child and elderly care, establishing regulations on health and safety at the workplace that include gendered occupational risks as well as psycho- social risks, investing into public employment services that are able to guide women of all ages in their search for employment, introducing flexible rules for transitioning from work into retirement and care credits;
Amendment 70 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 d (new)
Paragraph 1 d (new)
1d. Notes that women are more often financially penalised than men as they tend to have interrupted careers, also women more often struggle to build up sufficient contributions across both the private and public pension systems as a result of the pay gap, precarious and low- paid work, part-time jobs and atypical contracts, carrying out unpaid caring, and being excluded from the labour market for long periods over the course of their lives; stresses the importance of combating indirect discrimination in pension schemes, not only in occupational schemes but also in the practices of statutory pension schemes;
Amendment 71 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 e (new)
Paragraph 1 e (new)
1e. Alerts of the risks to gender equality represented by the shifts from social security pensions to personal funded pensions since personal pensions are based on individual contributions and do not compensate for times spent caring for children and other dependants or periods of unemployment, sick leave or disability; calls on the Commission and Member States to explore ways to maintain and reinforce gender equality in reformed pension systems;
Amendment 72 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 f (new)
Paragraph 1 f (new)
1f. Notes that the occupational old age pensions schemes are increasingly run according to insurance principles and this might give rise to many gaps in terms of social protection1c ; emphasises that the Court of Justice of the European Union has made it clear that occupational pension schemes are to be considered as pay and that the principle of equal treatment therefore applies to these schemes as well; _________________ 1c http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender- equality/files/conference_sept_2011/dgjus tice_oldagepensionspublication3march20 11_en.pdf
Amendment 73 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 g (new)
Paragraph 1 g (new)
1g. Calls on the Member States to support with public incentives for women's access to occupational and individual supplementary pensions and to make these schemes more women- friendly, with provisions supporting the introduction of unisex life tariffs and care credits, as well as derived benefits; unisex life tariffs should be adopted in both public and private funded pension schemes, so that women can receive equal pension annuities for equal contributions, even if they are expected to live longer than men;
Amendment 74 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 h (new)
Paragraph 1 h (new)
1h. Stresses that closing the gender pay gap requires increased participation of women in the labour market, increased transparency in the payment process (including data broken down by sector) and calls on the Member States to implement Commission recommendations on wage transparency, gender-neutral job descriptions and classification, the reversal of the burden of proof when it comes to challenging gender discrimination in the workplace;
Amendment 80 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Highlights the fact that all people have the right to a decent public pension, and recalls that the Union recognises the entitlement to social security benefits and social services which provide protection in the event of old age, disability or dependency on long-term care; reminds in this context that the right of older persons to live in dignity and independently is enshrined in Article 25 of the EU Charter of Fundamental rights;
Amendment 89 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Deplores that in many Member States there is no entitlement to available, affordable and quality child care and long-term care and more often women are forced to reduce their working time to care for children, persons with disabilities and other dependants; therefore calls on the Commission and Member States to increase their support for childcare and to introduce targets similar to the Barcelona targets on the availability of quality long- term care services;
Amendment 104 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Calls for an adequate public minimum pension not related toindependent of the previous working life; stresses the importance of shifting towards individual, rather than family-rederived pension entitlements; highlights however the important role platyed, pension entitlements by survivor's pensions in safeguarding many older women from poverty;
Amendment 112 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to study the effects of different systems providing survivor's pensions in the light of high rates of divorce and non-married couples on poverty and social exclusion of older women;
Amendment 115 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 b (new)
Paragraph 3 b (new)
3b. Calls on the Members States to consider providing shared pension rights in case of divorce and legal separation;
Amendment 123 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. RegretsIs highly concerned that the current freeze and cuts in pensions in some Member States isare hitting people with low incomes, part-time jobs or interrupted careers (– most of them women) – hardest;
Amendment 142 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Asks the Member States to increase minimum wages as annd guarantee social protection for all as important tools for narrowing pension gaps;
Amendment 145 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the Commission to include the gender gap in pension indicator among the scoreboard indicators adopted for the European Semester surveillance process;
Amendment 149 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Calls on the Member States to adopt measures to extend pension coverage to atypical and self-employed workers;
Amendment 195 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to follow up on the Council conclusions of 18 June 2015 on equal income opportunities for women and men: closing the gender gap in pensions, including the call for the inclusion of care periods in the calculation of social protection rights, investment in accessible and affordable care systems, the developments of indicators on the gender pension gap and to promote further research on its causes1b ; _________________ 1bCouncil conclusions of 18 June 2016 on equal income opportunities for women and men: closing the gender gap in pensions: http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/docu ment/ST-9302-2015-INIT/en/pdf
Amendment 221 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Urges the Member States to reverse any reforms of pension systems that aggravate imbalances in pensions, (especially gender imbalances).; stresses that any policy changes related to pensions should always be measured against their impact on the gender gap, with specific analysis comparing the impact of the proposed changes on women and men and this should be a key feature of the planning, design, implementation and evaluation processes of public policy;
Amendment 226 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to raise awareness of the overall pension gender gap issue amongst policy makers, businesses and civil society as well as for tailored financial literacy, information and advice for women to help them make the right investment decisions.