National Women’s Council calls for gender perspective to be represented on Pension Commission

Published: Tuesday, November 03, 2020

In response to the announcement of the members of the newly established Pension Commission by the Government today, the National Women’s Council (NWC) has expressed its shock that there is no direct civil society gender perspective represented in the membership. NWC is calling on the Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys, to reconsider her decision and include a representative from the National Women’s Council on the Commission. NWC membership of the Commission was also supported by Minister for Equality, Roderic O’Gorman, in a letter to Minister Humphreys in the context of fulfilling the Government’s National Strategy for Women and Girls.

 Orla O’Connor, Director of NWC said,

“Pension policy is absolutely crucial for women’s equality and has an enormous impact on women’s access to an independent income in old age. Currently, our gender pension gap is at 35%. We need urgent reform of our pension policy and the Pension Commission will be absolutely critical in this regard for women. While we recognise the expertise of the members on the Commission and the fact that the age and youth perspective are represented, there is currently no civil society gender perspective. This means the direct experiences of women will not be reflected on the Commission.

NWC is representing over 190 member organisations throughout Ireland and has a long track record of working with older women to ensure their voices and experiences of pensions are heard. NWC has consistently brought research and policy proposals on the cumulative impact of gender inequality on women’s pension outcomes. We urge the Minister to reconsider her decision and include the National Women’s Council as a member of the Commission.”

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For more information, please contact Silke Paasche, Head of Communications, National Women’s Council, Tel. 085 858 9104.