The government began consultation on how insurers could use gender as a risk factor, in the light of a ruling by the European Court of Justice (in March 2011) that from December 2012 the use of gender as a risk factor should not result in individual differences in premiums and benefits for men and women.
Source: UK Response to the 1 March European Court of Justice Ruling that Insurance Benefits and Premiums After 21 December 2012 Should Be Gender-Neutral: A Consultation, HM Treasury
Links: Consultation document | HMT press release | Professional Pensions report
Date: 2011-Dec
A report said that there was a 'gulf in understanding' concerning pensions across the genders. Men were more aware than women of how much their pension was worth, how much income they would have in retirement, and whether they would be able to retire early.
Source: Pensions: The Root Problem, Friends Life
Links: Report | Friends Life press release
Date: 2011-Dec
An article examined whether research that used the concept of the social relations of housing provision was implicitly centred on men and neglectful of women, drawing on research into housing provision in rural Scotland.
Source: Madhu Satsangi, 'Feminist epistemologies and the social relations of housing provision', Housing, Theory and Society, Volume 28 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Dec
An article examined the coalition government's austerity programme, which sought to gain public support for welfare benefit cuts through appeals to frugality, self-sufficiency, and fiscal prudence. The reorientation of state assistance towards work, coupled with the proposed simplification of working-age benefits and tax credits, presented a particular challenge to the financial security and autonomy of women. It signalled the end of the process of modernizing the welfare system that was forged around the single-earner family model in the period of post-war austerity.
Source: Julie MacLeavy, 'A "new politics" of austerity, workfare and gender? The UK coalition government's welfare reform proposals', Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Volume 4 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Nov
The coalition government published an updated equality impact assessment for the universal credit measures contained in its Welfare Reform Bill.
Source: Welfare Reform Bill Universal Credit: Equality Impact Assessment, Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Equality impact assessment
Date: 2011-Nov
A think-tank report examined whether women were being discriminated against by banks. There was evidence in the United Kingdom of banks discriminating against pregnant women and women on maternity leave seeking mortgages; evidence in Europe of banks discriminating against women entrepreneurs; and evidence of gender stereotyping by bank loan officers internationally.
Source: Noreena Hertz, Women and Banks: Are female customers facing discrimination?, Institute for Public Policy Research
Links: Report | Telegraph report
Date: 2011-Nov
The Pensions Bill was given a third reading. Starting on a phased basis from 1 October 2012, employers would be required to provide employees with a workplace pension plan or enrol them in the National Employment Savings Trust. The Bill also brought forward an increase in state pension age to 66 by 2020, and the alignment of women's state pension age with men's (at 65) by 2018.
Source: Pensions Bill [HL], Department for Work and Pensions, TSO | Debate 18 October 2011, columns 778-868, House of Commons Hansard, TSO
Links: Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard | Professional Pensions report
Date: 2011-Oct
The coalition government announced a partial retreat over plans (in the Pensions Bill) to raise the state pension age. It said that the Bill would be amended so that the pension age would be raised to 66 by October 2020, instead of April 2020. As a result, women who would have seen a 2-year deferral of their state pension age (those born in the period 6 January-5 September 1954) would have their wait reduced to 18 months.
Source: Written Ministerial Statement 13 October 2011, columns 46-48WS, House of Commons Hansard, TSO
Links: Hansard | DWP press release | Labour Party press release | NAPF press release | TAEN press release | TUC press release | Unite press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2011-Oct
A briefing paper examined the debate over whether partners should be allowed to transfer their tax allowance to their spouse, so that the tax system might 'recognize' marriage.
Source: Antony Seely, Tax, Marriage & Transferable Allowances, Standard Note SN04392, House of Commons Library
Links: Briefing paper
Date: 2011-Jun
Two linked briefing papers examined ways in which the government could assess the impact of tax and benefit reforms on men and women using available data, and analyzed all changes to be introduced between 2010-11 and 2014-15:
• The changes would cause a larger loss for households with a single adult female than a single adult male (largely driven by the particularly large loss for lone parents from the reforms).
• There was relatively little difference in the distributional effects between single-earner couple households according to whether the man or the woman was the earner, and between two-earner couple households according to whether the man or the woman was the higher earner on average: but overall, dual-earner couples had smaller percentage losses than single-earner couples.
• The reforms slightly weakened the incentive for both men and women both to do paid work on average and to increase their earnings: but this disguised considerable variation within both distributions.
Source: James Browne, The Impact of Tax and Benefit Reforms by Sex: Some simple analysis, Briefing Note 118, Institute for Fiscal Studies | Single Mothers: Singled Out, Fawcett Society
Links: IFS Briefing Note | Fawcett briefing | IFS Observation | Fawcett Society press release | Gingerbread press release | BBC report
Date: 2011-Jun
An article examined the relationship between gender and private pension provision. There had been an emphasis on neoliberal concerns of private saving and individual responsibility as a means of reducing expenditure and encouraging long-term sustainability: this left many women ill-equipped to save and dependent on means-tested pension provision, largely as a result of intermittent work histories.
Source: Liam Foster, 'Privatisation and pensions: what does this mean for women?', Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, Volume 19 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2011-Jun
A paper examined the background to a decision by the European Court of Justice (in March 20111) that insurers could not discriminate on grounds of sex in setting premiums or determining benefits. It said that the judicial defence of fundamental rights was a weak basis for social policy, and did not foreshadow a revolution in the development of social rights in Europe.
Source: Deborah Mabbett, A Rights Revolution in Europe? Regulatory and judicial approaches to nondiscrimination in insurance, LEQS Paper 38/2011, London School of Economics
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-May
A report examined the impact of a range of public spending cuts on women in a midlands city (Coventry). It said that spending cuts would increase inequality between women and men, and might seriously damage the human rights of some women (such as women victims and survivors of rape or domestic violence).
Source: Mary-Ann Stephenson and James Harrison, Unravelling Equality? A human rights and equality impact assessment of the public spending cuts on women in Coventry, Centre for Human Rights in Practice (University of Warwick)/Coventry Women s Voices
Links: Report | Summary | Warwick University press release
Date: 2011-May
A paper examined the gender dimension of transport policy in developed countries.
Source: Chantal Duchene, Gender and Transport, Discussion Paper 2011-11, International Transport Forum (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)
Links: Paper
Date: 2011-May
A report examined the proposed raising of the state pension age within the broader context of women's pension disadvantage and the gendered impact of public spending cuts.
Source: Jay Ginn, Moving the SPA Goalposts for Women: The broader context, Women's Budget Group
Links: Report
Date: 2011-Apr
A paper highlighted the importance of independent income, and of considering gender differences in the receipt of income. Earnings-replacement benefits paid to individuals fulfilled a range of functions that means-tested benefits, assessed at the family rather than individual level, could not.
Source: Fran Bennett and Holly Sutherland, The Importance of Independent Income: Understanding the role of non-means-tested earnings replacement benefits, Working Paper 2011-09, Institute for Social and Economic Research (University of Essex)
Links: Working paper | Abstract
Date: 2011-Mar
The European Court of Justice ruled that using differences between men and women as a risk factor in setting premiums for insurance products breached EU rules on equality.
Source: Association Belge des Consommateurs Test-Achats ASBL and Others v Conseil des Ministres, European Court of Justice
Links: Judgement | ECJ press release | European Commission press release | ABI press release | EWL press release | NAPF press release | Open Europe press release | PAS press release | PwC press release | TUC press release | Guardian report | Professional Pensions report | Telegraph report
Date: 2011-Mar