Equal Pension Day highlights rising pension hardship for women

Equal Pension Day highlights the pension gap between men and women, with social counselling centres in Vienna reporting growing demand from older women, ORF reported.

The day marks the point at which men have mathematically received as much pension as women will receive by the end of the year. Women in Vienna receive an average monthly old-age pension of 1,834 euros gross, compared with 2,527 euros for men, a difference of 693 euros. The gap is smaller than the Austrian average of about 1,000 euros.

The impact is evident at the Caritas social counselling centre on Mommsengasse. Doris Anzengruber, who heads the centre, said more older women were seeking help to cover their everyday needs, rent and ongoing energy costs.

Almost 60 percent of the roughly 11,000 people who seek help from Caritas social counselling services each year are women. Many women lack the opportunity to build up an adequate pension during their working lives, Anzengruber said. Caritas has long called for better childcare and improved compatibility between work and family life to prevent poverty in old age.

Wolfgang Panhölzl, head of the social insurance department at the Vienna Chamber of Labour, said political action was still needed to reduce the pension imbalance. Women were structurally disadvantaged in their insurance periods because they performed most unpaid care work, including raising children and caring for relatives.

They were also disadvantaged by lower incomes in typically female-dominated sectors such as retail, cleaning and other service jobs, including hairdressing, Panhölzl said. A high rate of involuntary part-time work further reduced their pension entitlements. In the short term, the Chamber of Labour is calling for improved recognition of periods spent raising children.

Anzengruber said a recent case illustrated the hardship faced by some older women. She had advised a 70-year-old woman who had been without heating and hot water for two years. The woman sought help because she feared she could no longer afford her rent.