Benefit system ‘bias’ against women

EU social security ministers are to be told they must rid their benefit systems of disincentives for women to work if they wish to defuse the demographic time bomb.


In a tough message designed to prompt member states into action, the Swedish presidency will present a series of papers arguing that without institutional reform the EU’s goal of getting more women into work cannot become a reality. Union leaders agreed at the Lisbon summit last year that this was vital to offset the potentially devastating effects on Europe’s economy of its ageing population.

At a joint meeting of equality and social security ministers starting on Monday (22 January), Sweden will tell member states that the Union’s benefit and tax regimes are holding women back because they assume most families have a male breadwinner. “The systems are an active obstacle to women,” said one official.

Stockholm plans to highlight benefits that women lose if they take up jobs and pension systems which reward spouses if they stay at home. They will also argue that the EU must make it easier for women to be working mothers, or else they say the Union risks lowering the birth rate and worsening the demographic crisis. In particular they will call for member states to do more to provide child care.

Gender equality is a key plank of the presidency, but in reality there is little room for Union-wide action on social security reform because it is principally a member state concern. The best Sweden can hope for is probably an increased emphasis on gender issues when heads of state and government meet in Stockholm in March to review progress made on their employment policy.