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Mothers and fathers in Switzerland are romantically inclined: they live with their families in the here and now, rather than worrying about the future. And they believe they will stay together forever. This may sound nice. However, it carries serious risks, especially for mothers.
On average, women in Switzerland work 24 percent less than men. This is the result of a recent study by Swiss Life. The life insurance group surveyed 4,000 people ages 25 to 64 in a representative survey. This shows that the gap between working hours is decreasing, but this situation will continue in the coming years. The reason for women’s lower participation in the labor market is generally family structure.
High divorce rate is underestimated
And nothing fundamental will change anytime soon: Respondents say the ideal workload for mothers with young children is 50 percent, and for fathers 80 percent. This shows how deep-rooted gender stereotypes are. There are also practical constraints: nursery places are often too expensive or not available at all, and as the study shows, the fact that women’s wages are often low also plays a part in this.
Problem: If a mother works less for the benefit of the family, this has long-term effects. “When you reduce your workload, you no longer work full time until you retire,” study author Andreas Christen, 38, is quoted as saying.
The future consequences for mothers in the event of separation can be fatal: For married couples, the pension fund assets accumulated during the marriage are shared fairly. However, among today’s divorced retirees, women’s pensions are on average 15 percent lower; This is precisely because they work lower hours. The risk of divorce is clearly underestimated: today, 42 percent of marriages end in divorce sooner or later. Only 26 percent of married men think deeply about their retirement circumstances; For women, this rate is only 19 percent.
The increasing number of people living together makes the problem worse
However, separation hits women in cohabiting families harder. And these have increased over the past decade: one in five couples with a child under five is no longer married, compared with just one in ten in 2010. On average, 58 percent of women here have a higher workload but are less protected than married women in the event of separation or death from their spouses. Custom service or contractual agreements can help here. But Swiss Life questions whether this is happening enough. Even cohabiting couples rarely delve deeply into retirement issues.
Today’s female retirees receive a third less pension than men. This gap is called the “Gender Pension Gap”. The gap is likely to narrow in the future: Women who marry between 2010 and 2022 work slightly more hours on average. However, in case of separation, this will not be enough for them to maintain their current lifestyle after retirement.
Source :Blick
I’m Tim David and I work as an author for 24 Instant News, covering the Market section. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism, my mission is to provide accurate, timely and insightful news coverage that helps our readers stay informed about the latest trends in the market. My writing style is focused on making complex economic topics easy to understand for everyone.
