For women over 65, the risk of poverty is 18 percent. The percentage is even higher for single women with a pension. Social isolation or poorer health are also associated with poverty in old age.
“In this group, more than one in four women are at risk of falling into poverty,” said Erich Fenninger, director of Volkshilfe Austria, on the occasion of International Women’s Day on March 8.
Imbalanced diet, social isolation
In an interview with Volkshilfe, a woman explains what poverty in old age actually means: “I eat bread in the morning, at lunch and in the evening. Only bread, only bread, only bread.” A balanced diet is not financially possible for them. But that’s not all: many people affected also feel socially isolated and generally less healthy.
Moreover, it is often the case that “men exercise power over the household budget” or “pressure their partner to justify themselves,” says the Volkshilfe policy document.
Pension gap between men and women
The high risk of poverty for single women over 65 is the result of the pension gap between men and women. The ‘pension gap’ varies widely across Austria. While men received an average of 2,229 euros in 2022, women’s pensions averaged 1,313 euros.
“A pension gap of more than 40 percent is the result of an unequal distribution of unpaid care work, a lack of childcare places and unequal wages for equal work and work of equal value. “But the conservative image of women, which is still entrenched in society, is also one of the reasons for low women’s pensions,” says Fenninger.
“The average women’s pension in 2023 was just below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold of 1,392 euros for a single-person household. At 47.3 percent, the pension gap between men and women is particularly dramatic in Vorarlberg; in Vienna it is 29.8 percent. The pension gap between men and women in Austria is shameful. We are at the top of the list in the EU.”
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
