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six - Extended working life, gender and precarious work in Ireland
- Edited by Áine Ní Léime, National University of Ireland Galway, Debra Street, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Sarah Vickerstaff, University of Kent, Clary Krekula, Karlstads universitet Institutionen för ingenjörsvetenskap och fysik, Wendy Loretto, The University of Edinburgh
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- Book:
- Gender, Ageing and Extended Working Life
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 05 April 2022
- Print publication:
- 05 July 2017, pp 117-136
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Summary
Introduction
Policies designed to extend working life have been introduced relatively recently in Ireland, but the pension age has been increased more quickly and steeply compared to other countries such as Germany, the UK, France or Poland (OECD, 2015a). This chapter considers the likely gender impacts of these policies. As is true for several other countries, the extended working life agenda has been ushered in and accompanied by alarmist headlines in the media warning against the prospect of unsustainable pension systems, which are argued to be the inevitable result of demographic ageing.
However, there has been little explicit discussion by policymakers of the gender implications of extended working life policies (OECD, 2015a). There is a limited number of reports and articles in the academic literature raising the issue of gender equity and pensions, and/or extended working life, but, for the most part, there has been little debate about whether these policies are the only or best possible solution to demographic ageing and whether they should be applied indiscriminately to all workers (Murphy and McCashin, 2008; Duvvury et al, 2012; Ní Léime et al, 2015). Organisations such as the National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI) have raised the issue of women's unequal access to pensions in various pre-Budget submissions and in the consultation on the Green Paper on pensions (Cousins and Associates, 2008). However, concerns raised by the NWCI and others in relation to women affected by previous discriminatory legislation (discussed later) appear not to have been addressed in introducing extended working life policies. Public debate from 2008 onwards has been dominated by the public debt crisis and only recently have opposition politicians raised the issue of the possible adverse effects for women of pension reforms in the Dail – the Irish Parliament (Dail Debates, 2014). In a neoliberal environment, trades unions, as happened in other countries, have been forced to choose between protecting rights for their existing members and accepting deteriorating working conditions and pensions for future members (Russell, 2014). When recent pension reforms were introduced in 2012, the recession was at its most severe and there was little overt protest (although the Irish Congress of Trade Unions held a conference on the issue entitled ‘Wake up to state pension reform’ in 2012).
five - Pension provision, gender, ageing and work in Ireland
- Edited by Kieran Walsh, National University of Ireland Galway, Gemma M. Carney, National University of Ireland Galway, Áine Ní Léime, National University of Ireland Galway
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- Book:
- Ageing through Austerity
- Published by:
- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 10 March 2022
- Print publication:
- 25 March 2015, pp 63-78
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Summary
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).
12 - Civil society and accountability promotion in the Global Fund
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- By Carolyn Long, International Center for Research on Women in Washington, DC, Nata Duvvury, National University of Ireland, Galway
- Edited by Jan Aart Scholte, University of Warwick
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- Book:
- Building Global Democracy?
- Published online:
- 05 June 2012
- Print publication:
- 07 April 2011, pp 245-266
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Summary
Introduction
The debate on civil society and accountable global governance involves two important questions. What role does civil society play in ensuring accountability of global institutions? And to what extent is civil society itself accountable to its own constituencies? This chapter explores these issues in relation to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (hereafter abbreviated to ‘the Global Fund’ or ‘GFATM’).
In pursuing this analysis, civil society is understood to cover a range of collective actors outside of states and formal political parties, and characterised by the voluntary (non-profit) nature of their association. The range of civil society organisations (CSOs) includes social movements, labour unions and other workers' associations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community-based organisations (CBOs), clan and kinship networks, professional associations and any other bodies not motivated by profit. However, recent considerations of the social contract between the state and its citizens in the context of globalisation place particular emphasis on NGOs, especially when they take on the role of providing public services in the place of government.
Accountability is understood here along four dimensions: doing what is right in line with the organisation's goals; doing no harm; taking responsibility for the organisation's policies and actions; and correcting mistakes. The first two aspects of accountability require voice or participation (termed ‘consultation’ in Chapter 1 of this book), so that a broad spectrum of interests is considered in decision-making.
PHYSICAL SPOUSAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN INDIA: SOME RISK FACTORS
- L. JEYASEELAN, SHUBA KUMAR, NITHYA NEELAKANTAN, ABRAHAM PEEDICAYIL, RAJAMOHANAM PILLAI, NATA DUVVURY
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- Journal:
- Journal of Biosocial Science / Volume 39 / Issue 5 / September 2007
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 09 March 2007, pp. 657-670
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Domestic spousal violence against women in developing countries like India, is now beginning to be recognized as a widespread health problem impeding development. This study aimed to explore the risk and protective factors for lifetime spousal physical violence. A cross-sectional household survey was carried out in rural, urban and urban-slum areas across seven sites in India, among women aged 15–49 years, living with a child less than 18 years of age. The sample was selected using the probability proportionate to size method. Trained field workers administered a structured questionnaire to elicit information on spousal physical violence. The main hypothesized variables were social support, witnessed father beating mother and experience of harsh physical violence during childhood, alcohol abuse by spouse and socioeconomic variables. The outcome variables included three physical violence behaviours of hit, kick and beat. Odds ratios were calculated for risk and protective factors of violence using logistic regression. Of 9938 women surveyed, 26% reported experiencing spousal physical violence during the lifetime of their marriage. Adjusted odds ratios calculated using multiple logistic regression analysis suggest that women whose husbands regularly consumed alcohol (OR 5·6; 95% CI 4·7–6·6); who experienced dowry harassment (OR 3·2; 95% CI 2·7–3·8); had reported experiencing harsh physical punishment during childhood (OR 1·6; 95% CI 1·4–1·8) and had witnessed their fathers beat their mothers (OR 1·9; 95% CI 1·6–2·1), were at increased risk of spousal physical violence (beat, hit and kick). Higher socioeconomic status and good social support acted as protective buffers against spousal physical violence. The findings provide compelling evidence of the potential risk factors for spousal physical violence, which in turn could help in planning interventions.