海外之聲 | 女性面臨養老金貧困：性別和文化等差異是誘因（中英雙語）

原標題：海外之聲 | 女性面臨養老金貧困：性別和文化等差異是誘因（中英雙語）

觀點速遞

本文作者是全球主權顧問的任事股東，前聯合國財務主管，以及合辦工作人員養恤基金主任Suzanne Bishopric。原文首次刊登於The Bulletin。

作者指出，在女性群體中，養老金不足的問題十分嚴重，性別差異帶來的收入差距是一個原因，女性在年老時更易受慢性疾病影響是另一原因。政府急需採取補救措施，保障收入平等的同時實現養老金平等。

中文譯文如下：

女性面臨養老金貧困

性別收入差距，文化因素以及長壽導致了女性擁有較少的養老金

Suzanne Bishopric

翻譯：王春譯

審校：熊若潔

2018年6月21日

儘管大家高度關注發達國家所存在的養老金不足的問題，但是許多人忽視了這個問題對女性來說有多嚴重。

20世紀70年代，大量的婦女進入職場，她們的收入只有男性的60%，所以女性的退休存款比男性少也絲毫不令人意外。當時，官方預計在很短的時間內，女性跟男性就能取得收入平等，但是目前女性的收入仍然比男性低，養老金系統也沒有為女性不同的職業道路做出調整。2017世界經濟論壇報告預計，至少還需要217年，女性才能掙到和男性一樣多的錢。

由於養老的費用是用日積月累的收入存款堆積起來的，很明顯，那些掙得少的人也只能積累起比較少的養老金。不幸的是，許多其他因素更是使得女性面臨更大的不平等。

就業年限差距導致的收入差距也是女性退休存款減少的一大原因。在美國，婦女沒有工作的平均年限為5.5年，主要是為了要照顧孩子。此外，還有一個不太起眼的原因，那就是因為女性通常會嫁給比自己年長的男性，因此也會導致差距。當丈夫退休後，妻子往往也會在法定的退休年齡之前離開職場。

如果你把照顧年老親戚的因素也考慮進去的話，情況就更加糟糕。因為女性不會因為照顧家庭成員而獲得報酬。然而，當女性達到需要被照顧的年齡時，她們往往成了寡婦，所以她們曾經免費為家庭成員提供的服務，現在要付費請人來提供。加重這一問題的還有一個原因，即女性在年老時更容易受慢性致殘疾病的影響，這一點與男性不成比例。

長壽導致了超過個人儲蓄所能供養壽命的風險。目前，女性通常會比男性長壽5-7年，但是能夠支撐自己的養老儲蓄預計卻比男性少了30%-40%。

目前急需採取補救措施。一些解決方法需要文化方面的變革，例如鼓勵女性嫁給比她們年輕的男性，因此妻子們就可以不必為了陪伴退休的丈夫而離開職場。

首先，為了糾正過去的薪水不平等問題，基於收入的所有社保機制或養老金都必須要提高，以彌補女性較少的收入，直到女性可以掙得與男性相當的工資。因此，基於女性工資為男性工資60%而計算出的養老金應當被除以0.6，或者女性的養老金應當增加一部分使之與男性的養老金持衡。如果不做出這樣的調整，那麼養老金機制將繼續延續過去的性別工資差距。

第二，其他支撐機制，例如應該向有小孩子的家庭提供帶薪產假或支付得起的兒童保育，避免母親要在毀掉自己職業生涯和忽視孩子中做出選擇。還要使母親能夠一直留在公司的工資名單上，即便是兼職也可以，這樣不僅僅可以增加女性的收入，更能確保女性的工作技能和工作關係。

第三，針對未支付的兒童保育或養老服務提供的津貼應該被納入退休機制中，例如為照顧小孩和老人的女性提供養老金計劃最低繳款。

「女人的工作永遠做不完」這句俗話只說了一半，還有半句是，女人做的工作永遠拿不到回報。現在，女性也加入了勞動人口當中，是時候重新平衡工作量了。

一旦女性獲得了收入平等，男性也共同承擔家庭的歡喜和磨難，要實現養老金的平等就會更容易一些。

英文原文如下：

Women face pension poverty

Gender pay gap, cultural factors and longevity lead to lower savings

Suzanne Bishopric

21 Jun 2018

While there has been intense focus on general pension underfunding throughout the developed world, many have overlooked how much worse the problem is for women.

When greater numbers of women entered the workforce in the 1970s, they typically earned only 60% of a man"s income, so it should not come as a surprise that their retirement savings are lower. At the time, authorities assumed women would achieve income equality in short order, but their income has remained lower than men"s, and pension systems have made no adjustment for women"s different career paths. The World Economic Forum"s 2017 report projected that it would take 217 years before women would be making as much money as men.

Because retirement funds are built up from gradual savings from income, it is obvious that those who earn less money will accumulate smaller pension pots. Unfortunately, a number of other factors have stacked the equation against women.

Unpaid gaps in employment are one of the biggest reasons for the reduced retirement savings of women. The average woman in the US absent is from the paid workforce for about 5.5 years to tend to children. Another, less noticeable, gap occurs because women tend to marry older men. When the husband retires, the wife tends to leave the workforce before her statutory retirement age.

It gets worse when one considers who looks after for elderly relatives, because women are not paid for the care they provide to family members. However, when women reach the age when they need care themselves, they have often been widowed, and so must pay for the services they once provided for free to others. Compounding this problem is the fact that women are disproportionately afflicted by the chronic disabling diseases of old age.

Longevity creates the risk of outliving one"s savings. At present, a woman will live about five to seven years longer than her husband, yet will have to support herself with pension savings estimated to be 30%-40% lower than his.

Urgent remedies are needed. Some solutions would require a cultural revolution, such as encouraging women to marry men who are younger, so wives won"t be tempted to drop out of the workforce to accompany their husbands into retirement.

First, to correct salary injustices of the past, any social security scheme or pension fund that was based on income should be grossed up to adjust for women"s lower pay, until women are shown to earn the same amount as men. Thus, any pension payment based on a woman"s work when women were earning 60% of a man"s salary should be divided by 0.6, or increased by the fraction that makes it equal with that of her male peers. Without this kind of adjustment, pension systems would effectively perpetuate gender wage gaps of the past.

Second, support mechanisms such as paid maternity leave or affordable childcare should be provided to families with young children, to avoid forcing mothers to choose between jeopardising their careers and neglecting their children. Enabling mothers to stay on the payroll, even if only part time, not merely generates income but also keeps women"s skills and professional connections current.

Third, some allowance for unpaid childcare or eldercare services should be incorporated into retirement schemes, such as minimum contributions to pension plans for persons caring for infants and elders.

The old saying "a woman"s work is never done" left unspoken that a woman"s work was never paid. Now that women have joined the workforce, it is time to rebalance the workload.

Once women attain paycheck parity and men share equally in the joys and tribulations of the home front, it will be far easier to balance the pension equation.

內容整理 羅夢宇

圖文編輯 羅夢宇

監製 朱霜霜

關於我們

聯繫方式:

We only share the most valuable financial insights.

喜歡這篇文章嗎？立刻分享出去讓更多人知道吧！