Introduction

International policy bodies (such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD]), the European Union (EU) and national governments in many Western countries have become increasingly concerned about how to provide pensions for the growing proportion of older people (European Commission, 2009; OECD, 2012c). Demographic ageing is often referred to in policy discourse as a ‘crisis’ or a burden, and one of the main suggested solutions is to shift responsibility for pension provision from the state to individuals and to encourage the privatisation of pensions (Haan and Prowse, 2011). Several countries, such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and the UK, have introduced policies designed to extend working life and to reform state pension provision. Such measures include increasing the state pension age, removing the mandatory retirement age and generally encouraging citizens to take on responsibility for providing for their own pensions (Lain et al, 2013). Under austerity, pressure to reform pension policies has intensified and implementation has accelerated, with insufficient appreciation of the implications for different groups of workers (Earles, 2013). In particular, older women's current access to pensions is influenced both by gender norms and by austerity policies as both shape women's work trajectories.

This chapter focuses on the gendered consequences of European policy reforms on pensions in Ireland. In particular, we consider the impacts of austerity on women and their ability to provide for their pensions. The discussion focuses on the case of older women workers in Ireland. The chapter adopts a dual approach to analysis. First, it draws upon a feminist political economy of ageing approach to analyse older workers and pensions from a gender perspective. This approach emphasises the impact that legislation, policy and conditions in the economy, such as austerity, have on shaping the environment in which older women workers make work-life choices (Ginn et al, 2001a; Phillipson, 2004). One reason for adopting this approach is the recognition that different welfare regimes are, and were to a greater degree in the past, gendered (Price and Ginn, 2003; Meyer and Pfau-Effinger, 2006). Ireland, for example, through its employment, taxation and social welfare policies, favoured a male breadwinner model of family life (Daly, 2001), where the policy environment encouraged one (usually male) breadwinner rather than encouraging other models, such as dual-earner families (Drew et al, 1998).