Gender and old age social protection in Asia

8/3/2019 Gender and old age social protection in Asia

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Gender and old-age socialprotection in Asia

Help Age International, London, 7th October 2011

Dr Athina Vlachantoni

Centre for Research on AgeingUniversity of Southampton, United Kingdom


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Overview

Understanding the factors affecting womenspension accumulation

Framing gender and old-age pensionprotection within the Asian region

A double jeopardy for women? The role of

social pensions


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Understanding the factors affecting

womens pension accumulation


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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 consumptionover the lifecourse

Normallifecourse

Insecurelifecourse

LifecourseIn poverty

Source: Adjusted from Barrientos (2004) in Lloyd-Sherlock (ed) Living

Longer. Zed Books.

Age

Income

Consumption


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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)

Women and pensions


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+ Informal employment which does not yield a pension



Women and pensions


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+ Informal employment which does not yield a pension



Women and pensions


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Framing gender and old-age pension

protection in the Asian region


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Framing gender and old-agepension 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 inAsian regions, 1950-2050

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1950

-1955

1960

-1965

1970

-1975

1980

-1985

1990

-1995

2000

-2005

2010

-2015

2020

-2025

2030

-2035

2040

-2045

Asia

E.Asia

S.C.AsiaS.E. Asia

W. Asia

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

Population Database


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

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Asia

E.Asia

S.C. Asia

S.E. Asia

Western Asia

Women Men

Source: World Population Prospects, The 2008 Revision Population Database


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

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

2000 2005 2010 2030 2050

Japan

Singapore

China

Vietnam

Malaysia

Thailand

Tajikistan

KazakhstanCambodia

Source: ILO 2010


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Demographic change







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Figure 5: Employment rates ofthose aged 15 and over, by region and gender,

Asian regions, 2008

0

10

20

30

40

5060

70

80

90

Asia Eastern Asia South-Central

Asia

South-

Eastern Asia

Western Asia

Men

Women

Source: ILO 2010


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Figure 6: Employment rates ofthose aged 15 and over, selected countries,

by gender, 2008

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Camb

odia

Thailan

d

Malay

siaCh

ina

Vietn

am

Sing

apore

Kaza

khstan

Japa

n

Tajikist

an

Men

Women

Source: ILO 2010


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Figure 7: Labour force participationrates by gender, Japan, 1990 and 2008

0

10

2030

4050

60

7080

90

100

15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75and

over

Men 1990

Women 1990Men 2008

Women 2008

Source: ILO 2010


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Demographic change







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Figure 8: Proportion of employeesamong the total employed population,

by gender, Asian regions, 2010

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

South Asia South-East Asia

and the Pacific

East Asia World

Men

Women

Source: ILO 2010


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Demographic change






Fi Li i f


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Figure 9: Living arrangements ofolder people in Africa, Asia, L. America andthe Caribbean

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


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Figure 10: Proportion of olderpeople living with their children, 2005


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Table 1: Proportion of older menand women living alone, various years

Country Year Men Women Total

Japan 2000 n/a n/a 12.7

Malaysia 1991 4.7 8.7 6.8

Kyrgyzstan 1997 5.3 12.2 9.3

Thailand 1995 2.9 5.5 4.3

Philippines 1998 4 6.4 5.3

Source: UN 2005


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Figure 11: Proportion of personsaged 60 and over living alone, selected Asian

countries, 1980-2000

02

4

6

810

12

14

1980-3 1990 2000

China

Japan

Malaysia

Singapore

Thailand

Indonesia

India

Source: UN 2005


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Figure 12: Sources income for olderpeople, by gender, Malaysia

0

10

2030

40

50

60

W ork 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 incomeof older people, by gender, Vietnam

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Total men

Total women

Married men

Married women

Unmarried men

Unmarried women

Work

Pension

Investments

Children/ relatives

Other

Source: Ofstedal et al 2004


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Demographic change







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Figure 14: Remittances flows toless developed countries, by region,

2007-2012 ($ billion)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

East Asia and Pacific

Europe and Central AsiaLatin 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

Old f i d bl


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Older women facing a doublejeopardy

Unless womens diverse lifecourses are taken into account

in old-age pension systems, women in less developedcountries face a double jeopardy in later life, whereby:

- their participation in informalwork cannot yield pensionprotection,

- their participation informalwork does not necessarilyyield pension protection.

At the same time, their contribution to informal care

provision remains unchanged, or even increases, while theirown need for care provision increases.

How can pension systems contribute to the reduction ofincome insecurity, and what is the role of social pensionsin 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, familysupport, community support)


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Figure 15: Effective extent ofcoverage and active contributors to a pension

scheme in the working-age population, Japan,Malaysia and Vietnam (%)

Source: ILO 2010

010

20

30

40

5060

70

80

Japan Malaysia Vietnam

Effective extent of coverage Proportion of active contributors


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Figure 16: Social pensions: regionsand coverage

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


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

4.5 5.1 6.58.3 9.9

14.320.1

24.8 27.633.9

63.7

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Botswa

naIndia

Vietnam

Bangladesh

Swazila

nd

Namibia

Bolivia

Kenya

SouthAfrica

Brazil

Lesotho

Universal

Social pensions for women:


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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 inBolivia for those aged 60 and over)

When means-tested (on household total income orindividual pension income), such programmes can providepolicymakers 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 allwidows 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 ofensuring income adequacy in later life? (eg. sustainability,cost-effectiveness)

Administrative challenges and efficiency issues, eg. non-

claiming, difficulties proving age of eligibility, how to targetrural vs. urban (eg. Brazil) etc.

Indirect consequences of policy-making

Eg. Do social pensions undermine intra-householddistribution of resources and gender relations?

Eg. Could social pensions contribute to womens over-representation of workers in the informal sector?


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Social pensions as part of thebroader policy picture

Informal support from ones family and communityremains the predominant source of support in developingworld

Contextualisation alongside healthcare (eg. Bangladesh)

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

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

-voluntary, obligatory, a combination (eg. softcompulsion)


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Thank you

Documents

Gender and old age social protection in Asia