Review Article
The Gender Gap in Pensions: How Policies Continue to Fail Women
l.foster@sheffield.ac.uk
Abstract
A large gender gap in UK pensions has been persistent, yet generally ignored by governments. The neoliberal preference since 1980 to reduce state spending on welfare has limited the redistributive potential of state pensions, to the detriment of the low paid and those whose lifecourse is characterised by discontinuous and part-time employment, mainly women. Claims of intergenerational conflict have repeatedly hit headlines over the last 50 years, providing an excuse for cutting state pensions, most recently suspending the Triple Lock. This article examines the gap between older women’s and men’s personal income, distinguishing state and private pensions and assessing change over time. It is concluded that suitably generous state pensions can reduce the gender gap, while an emphasis on expanding private pensions exacerbates it.
Keywords
gender pensions gaplifecourseemploymentstate pensionsprivate pensionsparental rolesCopyright statement
© The author(s) 2023. This is an open access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International LicenseCite this article
Ginn with Foster (2023), ‘The Gender Gap in Pensions: How Policies Continue to Fail Women’, Journal of the British Academy, 11(2): 223 https://doi.org/10.5871/jba/011s2.223crossref
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The articles presented here engage with some of the multifaceted and intersecting challenges faced by young people today – these include conflict, insecurity, limited government support, deep-set gender discrimination, climate change, infectious disease and a widespread lack of decent jobs. While recognising the structural influences on young people’s circumstances, the articles gathered here bring young people’s perspectives, experiences and actions to the fore. With an eye on the future, and a sense of the past, this collection is situated in the present. Most of the research presented here stems from the British Academy’s Youth Futures research funding scheme. The results showcased here remind us how the present matters in and of itself, while influenced by the past and playing a key role in shaping the future. Thus there is a triple significance to understanding young people’s challenges: they matter for today and for how they impact tomorrow, and will be best understood with reference to the past.
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