According to a Research Note, to the Latvian Presidency, drafted by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), inequalities in access to economic resources in old age are immense, and women pensioners face higher risks of poverty in old age as compared to men despite the fact that prohibition of differential treatment entitles women and men to equal conditions in respect to old-age pensions. Assessing gender inequalities in pensions and addressing them is crucial, as women constitute the majority of the ageing population due to their higher life expectancy.

A greater proportion of women were in receipt of an old age pension in Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Estonia (all 28 %), as well as in Latvia (29 %) and Lithuania (30 %).

The gender gap in pensions throughout the European Union (EU) is considerable. In 2012, the gender gap in pensions amounted to 38 % in the EU on average. Notwithstanding the fact that the difference between pensions varies from country to country — from 5 % in Estonia,  to 45 % in Germany and 35 % in Bulgaria — the tendency for men to receive higher pensions than women is observed in all Member States.

The gender gap in pensions can be explained by women’s lower lifetime earnings and smaller or interrupted social security contributions, due to caring responsibilities, during pregnancy and greater propensity to work part-time.  The unequal share of care responsibilities between women and men sustains the gender gap in pensions. Gendered roles need to be addressed, particularly in relation to unequal caring responsibilities since longer working lives can intensify care responsibilities (e.g. childcare followed by care for elderly dependents). 

As a conclusion the Rsearch Note highlights that tackling gender inequalities thus needs to be part of the wider structural and institutional transformation that is taking place in pension-related policy in developing a sustainable and adequate pension system. This approach should be based on effective gender mainstreaming and address gender inequalities in all domains in order to reduce and facilitate eradication of the gender gap in pensions.