Gender Inequality

Aging populations have prompted many countries to reform pensions, to discourage people from retiring early and to keep working. In this video, YASEMIN ÖZDEMIR highlights the fact that pension reforms can have unforeseen effects which impact multiple generations. Foregrounding a 2006 Dutch reform which abolished an early retirement scheme for individuals born after 1950, Özdemir looks at how this policy affected families with children. As the policy made it unfeasible for many grandmothers born after 1950 to retire early, they were unable to take on childcare duties for their daughters. The range of spillover consequences of this policy observed by Özdemir included daughters working more, children having poorer educational outcomes and an increased gender discrepancy in terms of pay. The research highlights the importance for policymakers of considering the multigenerational spillover effects of their reforms, notably with regard to pensions.