site.btaJob Discrimination Hits 40-year-old Women

Job Discrimination Hits 40-year-old Women

Sofia, July 20 (BTA) - Women are facing job discrimination from
a much earlier age, starting at 40, when stereotypes such as
appearance and fitting certain jobs come into play, according to
 the Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation (BGRF).

Managing Director Genoveva Tisheva told BTA: "Age
discrimination, coupled with higher retirement-age and
contributory service requirements, will make both work and life
impossible for us."

The pension reform should be accompanied by measures eliminating
 discrimination and promoting job retention after a certain age
and career switches to fully use the skills of working women,
said Tisheva.

It is not the planned pension reform that accounts (and will
continue to do so for a long time) for the gender gap in
pensions but the gap in wages due to gender stereotypes,
discrimination in the appraisal and remuneration systems, and
gender segregation in the job market.

The Foundation predicts that the higher requirements for
retirement age and length of service will put a strain on women
who have to stay at home to look after children and family. The
Foundation calls for balanced options for early retirement and
career switches for women with physical jobs when their age and
health condition require this. Such options should not be linked
 to a pay cut, said Tisheva.

The proposed Social Insurance Code revisions, presented as
inevitable, are not good for men's and women's social insurance
rights in Bulgaria, said Tisheva. "We believe that the age and
contributory service requirements are too high. They come
against the backdrop of a difficult economic and political
transition, coupled with strong insecurity, a sharply changing
situation and even labour exploitation."

The pension reform envisages gradually increasing the retirement
 age until it reaches 65 years for men and women in 2037 after
which an automatic mechanism for raising it will be set in place
 based on life expectancy. By 2037, the contributory service
requirement for retirement will become 37 years for women and 40
 years for men.

The crisis in the health care, social and other systems and the
higher age and contributory service requirements will make it
physically impossible for all employees to reach the retirement
age, according to the Foundation.