Guest blog by Tito who has been on work experience with me in Parliament this week.
Society is more aware than ever before of the historical plight of women’s subordinate role to men in the workplace. It is a shame we are only just beginning to fully overhaul. However, less well-known is the particular plight of women born in the 1950s, who face the travesty of being denied their rightful pensions by a sharp rise in the state pension age from 60 years old to 66 years old with little to no notice. This is a travesty which cannot be allowed to continue and has undermined the hard, often physically gruelling endeavours of women over a lifetime.
The Acts of Parliament which, together, have plunged 1950s women into such an abominable position were passed under Conservative governments. The Major Government’s 1995 State Pension Law Act put in place a timetable to equalise the State Pension Age for women and men. The Cameron Government's 2011 State Pension Law Act accelerated this timetable so women’s state pension age would hit 65 by 2018 and both men and women would have a retirement age of 66 by 2020, meaning some women would have to wait an extra 18 months to receive their state pension.
This penalised older women unfairly. Not only had they made firm plans to retire at 60, they received no letters to inform them they would have to stay working for longer, so for many women the change came out of nowhere and was a nasty surprise. Ministers’ ignorance to the anxiety and misery this would cause is symptomatic of the Conservative government's approach to women who disproportionately suffer the consequences of austerity Britain in employment and living conditions. In a debate this Wednesday, Pensions Minister, Guy Opperman, refused to offer any help even to the most vulnerable and suggested those affected women should just take up apprenticeships as a route to re-employment. In all seriousness, these older women many of whom are educated, have had tough working lives and careers and are on the brink of retirement, are supposed to be sated by the “extended apprenticeship opportunities” offered by the Conservative government.
This is insulting and wrong.
Fortunately, WASPI (Women against State Pension Inequality) have been a resolute campaign group in highlighting the inadequacies of the government in providing justice for older women and have managed to engage thousands of members and acquire the support of 180 Members of Parliament. Their position for the transitional arrangement of a ‘bridging’ pension to provide an income from age 60 until State Pension Age for all women affected is fair and just, and would bring long awaited equity to the pensions of these women. A petition filed by WASPI Voice, a sub-grouping of WASPI, calling for immediate access to their state pension at a reduced rate and earlier, was able to receive over 20,000 signatures in support and necessitated a response from government outlining the somewhat baffling position that "Working longer can improve and maintain physical and mental health – evidence shows that making adjustments and changing working patterns can help older workers to manage health issues and stay in work,"
A society where one can work their whole lives and never receive requital is unfair and as much as the Conservative government believes sexism and inequality is either non-existent or justifiable, the WASPI campaign and that of their prominent supporters in parliament such as Mhairi Black, Graham Jones, Keith Simpson and Paul Flynn will bring justice to those being denied it.
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