Gender and old-age social protection in Asia

Dr Athina Vlachantoni Centre for Research on Ageing University of Southampton, United Kingdom
Help Age International, London, 7th October 2011

Overview Understanding the factors affecting womens pension accumulation Framing gender and old-age pension protection within the Asian region A double jeopardy for women? The role of social pensions

Understanding the factors affecting womens pension accumulation

Principles of pension protection

Pension systems generally perform three functions: 1) Consumption-smoothing How do we safeguard consumption across the lifecourse?

2) Insurance against longevity risk How do we ensure we dont outlive our resources?

3) Redistribution (and poverty reduction) How do we target the oldest and the poorest?
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Figure 1: Income and consumption over the lifecourse

Income

Consumption

Age

Normal lifecourse

Insecure lifecourse

Lifecourse In poverty

Source: Adjusted from Barrientos (2004) in Lloyd-Sherlock (ed) Living Longer. Zed Books.

Women and pensions

Higher life expectancy + Care (children, adults)

+ Interrupted, part-time, low-paid (formal) employment

+ Pension design with (dis)incentives to join

= =

Inadequate (individual) pension income Higher poverty risk (for longer)

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Women and pensions

Higher life expectancy + Care (children, adults)

+ Interrupted, part-time, low-paid (formal) employment

+ Pension design with (dis)incentives to join + Informal employment which does not yield a pension

= =

Inadequate (individual) pension income Higher poverty risk (for longer)

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Women and pensions

Higher life expectancy + Care (children, adults)

+ Interrupted, part-time, low-paid (formal) employment

+ Pension design with (dis)incentives to join + Informal employment which does not yield a pension

= =

Inadequate (individual) pension income Higher poverty risk (for longer)

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Framing gender and old-age pension protection in the Asian region

Framing gender and old-age pension protection

Demographic change Increasing diversity in womens life courses

- higher labour force participation

- informal work still a dominant element - changes in inter-generational living arrangements - impact of economic migration and remittances

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Figure 2: Total fertility rates in Asian regions, 1950-2050

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
19 50 -1 95 5 19 60 -1 96 5 19 70 -1 97 5 19 80 -1 98 5 19 90 -1 99 5 20 00 -2 00 5 20 10 -2 01 5 20 20 -2 02 5 20 30 -2 03 5 20 40 -2 04 5

Asia E.Asia S.C.Asia S.E. Asia W. Asia

Source: UN (2009) World Population Prospects, The 2008 Revision Population Database

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Figure 3: Life expectancy at birth by gender and Asian region, 2008

Western Asia

S.E. Asia

S.C. Asia

E.Asia

Asia

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Women

Men
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Source: World Population Prospects, The 2008 Revision Population Database

Figure 4: Old-age dependency ratio, 2000-2050 (%)

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2000 2005 2010 2030 2050
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Japan Singapore China Vietnam Malaysia Thailand Tajikistan Kazakhstan Cambodia

Source: ILO 2010

Framing gender and old-age pension protection

Demographic change Increasing diversity in womens life courses

- higher labour force participation

- informal work still a dominant element - changes in inter-generational living arrangements - impact of economic migration and remittances

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Figure 5: Employment rates of those aged 15 and over, by region and gender, Asian regions, 2008
90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Asia Eastern Asia South-Central SouthWestern Asia Asia Eastern Asia Men Women

Source: ILO 2010

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Figure 6: Employment rates of those aged 15 and over, selected countries, by gender, 2008
90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Ca m bo di a Th ai la nd M al ay sia na ng ap or e Ka za kh st an Ja pa n et na m Ch i Ta jik is ta n

Men Women

Vi

Si

Source: ILO 2010

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Figure 7: Labour force participation rates by gender, Japan, 1990 and 2008
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75 and over

Men 1990 Women 1990 Men 2008 Women 2008

Source: ILO 2010

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Framing gender and old-age pension protection

Demographic change Increasing diversity in womens life courses

- higher labour force participation

- informal work still a dominant element - changes in inter-generational living arrangements - impact of economic migration and remittances

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Figure 8: Proportion of employees among the total employed population, by gender, Asian regions, 2010
50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 South Asia South-East Asia and the Pacific East Asia World Men Women

Source: ILO 2010

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Framing gender and old-age pension protection

Demographic change Increasing diversity in womens life courses

- higher labour force participation

- informal work still a dominant element - changes in inter-generational living arrangements - impact of economic migration and remittances

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Figure 9: Living arrangements of older people in Africa, Asia, L. America and the Caribbean

Source: UN, 2005. NB: Older people defined as aged 60 and over.

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Figure 10: Proportion of older people living with their children, 2005

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Table 1: Proportion of older men and women living alone, various years
Country
Japan Malaysia Kyrgyzstan Thailand Philippines
Source: UN 2005

Year
2000 1991 1997 1995 1998

Men
n/a 4.7 5.3 2.9 4

Women Total
n/a 8.7 12.2 5.5 6.4 12.7 6.8 9.3 4.3 5.3
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Figure 11: Proportion of persons aged 60 and over living alone, selected Asian countries, 1980-2000
14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 1980-3 1990 2000 China Japan Malaysia Singapore Thailand Indonesia India

Source: UN 2005

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Figure 12: Sources income for older people, by gender, Malaysia

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Work Pension Investments Children/ relatives Other % receiving/ expecting a pension Men Women

Source: Ofstedal et al 2004 Note: Multiple responses result in bars not adding up to 100% for each gender group.

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Figure 13: Major source of income of older people, by gender, Vietnam

Unmarried women Unmarried men Work Married women Married men Total women Total men 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Pension Investments Children/ relatives Other

Source: Ofstedal et al 2004

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Framing gender and old-age pension protection

Demographic change Increasing diversity in womens life courses

- higher labour force participation

- informal work still a dominant element - changes in inter-generational living arrangements - impact of economic migration and remittances

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Figure 14: Remittances flows to less developed countries, by region, 2007-2012 ($ billion)
120 100 East Asia and Pacific 80 60 40 20 0 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Europe and Central Asia Latin America and Caribbean Middle East and North Africa South Asia Sub-Saharan Africa

Source: World Bank 2010

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A double jeopardy for older women? The role of social pensions

Older women facing a double jeopardy

Unless womens diverse lifecourses are taken into account in old-age pension systems, women in less developed countries face a double jeopardy in later life, whereby:

- their participation in informal work cannot yield pension protection,

- their participation in formal work does not necessarily yield pension protection. At the same time, their contribution to informal care provision remains unchanged, or even increases, while their own need for care provision increases. How can pension systems contribute to the reduction of income insecurity, and what is the role of social pensions in particular?

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Pension security in old age

Contributory -state pension (PAYG/ funded/ hybrid) -occupational pension

-personal pension
Non-contributory

-means-tested
-universal (social pensions) Other (savings, home ownership, access to health, family support, community support)
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Figure 15: Effective extent of coverage and active contributors to a pension scheme in the working-age population, Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam (%)
80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Japan Malaysia Effective extent of coverage Vietnam

Proportion of active contributors

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Source: ILO 2010

Figure 16: Social pensions: regions and coverage

Source: Help Age International online at: www.helpage.org (May 2010)

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Figure 17: Social pension as % of average income (GDP/ capita)

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Bo liv ia Ind ia Ba ng la d es h Sw az ila nd Ke ny a etn am Bo tsw an a Na mi b ia Le so tho
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63.7

33.9 20.1 4.5 5.1 6.5 8.3 9.9 14.3 24.8 27.6

Vi

Universal

So uth

Af ric

Br az il

Social pensions for women: advantages

Non-contributory (beneficial for those with interrupted working histories and inadequate contributions) When conditional only upon age, such programmes are a symbolic recognition of old age (eg. Renta Dignidad in Bolivia for those aged 60 and over)

When means-tested (on household total income or individual pension income), such programmes can provide policymakers with clues on womens sources of income Eligibility criteria can target women to a greater extent (eg. unconditionally to all aged 70 and over, conditionally to all widows aged 60 and over) Significant evidence of the impact of social pension for the household of the recipient as a whole
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Social pensions for women: challenges

Social pensions as a temporary or permanent way of ensuring income adequacy in later life? (eg. sustainability, cost-effectiveness)

Administrative challenges and efficiency issues, eg. nonclaiming, difficulties proving age of eligibility, how to target rural vs. urban (eg. Brazil) etc.
Indirect consequences of policy-making Eg. Do social pensions undermine intra-household distribution of resources and gender relations? Eg. Could social pensions contribute to womens overrepresentation of workers in the informal sector?
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Social pensions as part of the broader policy picture

Informal support from ones family and community remains the predominant source of support in developing world

Contextualisation alongside healthcare (eg. Bangladesh)

Extension of contributory schemes to incoming cohorts of workers in the informal sector (eg. Japan, Indonesia)

- level of contributions (eg. flat-rate, % of wages)

- voluntary, obligatory, a combination (eg. soft compulsion)

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Thank you

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