Policy Proposals for Addressing the Gender Pension Gap in Greece - Synthesis Report

The present synthesis report titled "Policy Proposals for Addressing the Gender Pension Gap in Greece" is a deliverable of the research team from the National Centre for Social Research, within the framework of Work Package 4 "Policy Proposals for Addressing the Gender Pension Gap in Greece" of the project "Tackling the Gender Pension Gap in Greece - PEGASUS." This project was implemented by the General Secretariat for Family Policy and Gender Equality (Coordinator Partner), the Centre for Research on Gender Equality (KETHI), and the National Centre for Social Research (EKKE), and co-financed by the EU under the European Program "Rights, Equality, and Citizenship" 2014-2020.

The report includes the results of various actions from the Work Packages of the project and culminates in a comprehensive set of policy proposals to address the gender pension gap in Greece. Specifically, it aims to map, analyze, and evaluate all dimensions of the gender pension gap, identifying the factors that create and influence it. Additionally, the report investigates and evaluates both the de jure and de facto implementation of the European Union's gender equality legislation in Greece, through a literature review and secondary quantitative data.

The report utilizes the "Gender Equality Index," data from the country's social security system on pensions, and other related data from income and employment surveys (EU-SILC and LFS) by Eurostat and ELSTAT. A particular focus is given to the comparative evaluation (benchmarking) of the best policies and institutional frameworks from selected EU member states for addressing the gender pension gap. Based on the findings of this process, measures and regulations that could be transferred to the Greek context are identified, leading to the formulation of an integrated policy framework to address the gender pension gap in the country.

This report consists of five chapters:

1. The first chapter presents the conceptual definition of the gender pension gap and its determining factors based on the relevant literature.
2. The second chapter addresses the current pension system in Greece and how national and contributory pensions are calculated.
3. The third chapter focuses on the formation and establishment of the legislative framework for EU gender equality policy, emphasizing employment, and then discusses the development of gender equality principles in social security and pensions in the EU. It also examines the implementation of gender equality principles in Greek employment and social security policies, looking at both de jure harmonization with European policies and de facto application.
4. The fourth chapter provides a comparative evaluation of the performance of EU member states on selected indicators to highlight the best policies for addressing the gender pension gap.
5. The report concludes with policy proposals for addressing the gender pension gap in Greece in the fifth chapter.