Conference 2018

As women still bear the main responsibility for childcare, breaks in career due to parenting and unstable labour market attachment are much more common for women than for men. As a result, women’s careers tend to be shorter, which means that their average lifetime earnings, and thus accumulated pensions, are lower than men’s are.

Recently, international organizations such as the EU and the OECD have emphasized the need to tackle gender inequality in old-age income.

The interplay of pension and family policies has a major impact on mitigating the gender gap in pensions. Taking stock of life course factors influencing the gender gap in old-age income, researchers will discuss the institutional impact of pension rules, parental leave policies and career trajectories from both an international and a Finnish perspective.

12:00

• Opening remarks
• Francesca Bettio (University of Siena): Unequal Ageing: Understanding and Countering the Gender Gap in Pensions
• Katja Möhring (University of Mannheim): The Role of Life Course and Institutional Characteristics for Women’s Old Age Financial Well-being in Europe

13:45 Coffee break

14:15

• Rense Nieuwenhuis (Stockholm University): Family Policy: The Forgotten Determinant of Economic Inequality among All
• Kati Kuitto (Finnish Centre for Pensions): Parental Leaves and Early Career Trajectories in Finland

15:30 Panel discussion: How to tackle gender inequality in pensions?

• Anna Rotkirch (Family Federation of Finland), Ilkka Kaukoranta (The Central Organization of Finnish Trade Unions SAK), and Juhana Vartiainen (National Coalition Party)
• Chair: Mikko Kautto (Finnish Centre for Pensions).

16:00-17:00 Closing remarks and reception

Francesca Bettio (Professor of Economics, University of Siena) is an expert on determinants of gender gaps in pension income. She has a long record of accomplishments working as an expert for the European Commission on matters relating to female labour market and gender equality.

Katja Möhring (Interim Professor of Sociology of the Welfare State, University of Mannheim; Visiting Scholar, Center for European Studies, Harvard University) focuses on labour markets, pension systems and gender equality in her work.

Rense Nieuwenhuis (Associate Professor at the Swedish Institute for Social Research SOFI, Stockholm University) is an expert on family policy outcomes and the role played by social policies and demographic trends in economic inequality.

Kati Kuitto (Senior Researcher, Finnish Centre for Pensions) works with a comparative focus on the interplay of employment, social security and pension systems.