Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T16:47:32.587Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Do Women Teachers Get a Fair Deal? An Assessment of Teachers' Pensions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2008

Liam Foster*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield Email: l.foster@sheffield.ac.uk

Abstract

There has been considerable debate about the future of pension provision over recent years and, in particular, the precarious position of many female pensioners. However, scant attention has been given to women contributing to occupational pensions despite gender differences in levels of accumulation. This article uses evidence from interviews with twenty retired female teachers to outline the difficulties women in the teaching profession have faced in building up occupational pension entitlements. Finally it highlights that pensions research needs to consider females with access to occupational pension provision to understand the situation of pensioners with a minimal pension income in retirement.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Babb, P., Butcher, H., Church, J. and Zealey, L. (eds) 2006, Social Trends 36, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.Google Scholar
Blake, D. 2003, ‘The United Kingdom pension system: key issues’, Discussion Paper 452, UBS Pensions Research Programme, London School of Economics.Google Scholar
Blunket, D. 2005, ‘Women and pensions, work and pensions written ministerial statements 2.11.2005’, http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wms/?id=2005-11-02a.47WS. 4&m±1810 (Accessed 4 December 2005).Google Scholar
Boulton, P. and Coldron, J. 1998, ‘Why women teachers say “stuff it” to promotion: a failure of equal opportunities?’, Gender and Education, 10, 2, 149161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coffey, A. and Delamont, S. 2000, Feminism and the Classroom Teacher – Research, Praxis and Pedagogy, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Collinson, D. and Hearn, J. (eds) 1996, Men as Managers, Managers as Men: Critical Perspectives on Men, Masculinities and Managements, London: Sage Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, B. and Ward, S. 1992, Women and Personal Pensions, London: Equal Opportunities Commission.Google Scholar
Department for Education and Skills (DfES) 2002, School Teachers' Pay and Conditions of Employment 2002: Guidance, DFES/0668/2002.Google Scholar
Department for Education and Skills (DfES) 2004, Statistics of Education – School Workforce in England 2003 Edition, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) 2005, Women and Pensions: The Evidence, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) 2006, Security in Retirement: Towards a New Pensions System, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) 2007, The Pensioners’ Incomes Series 2005/6, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Field, F. 2002, ‘A Universal Protected Pension: harnessing self-interest to the collective good’, in Deacon, A (ed.), Debating Pensions Self-Interest, Citizenship and the Common Good, London: Civitas.Google Scholar
Gardiner, J. 1997, Gender, Care and Economics, Hampshire: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Ginn, J. 2003a, Gender Pensions and the Life Course – How Pensions Need to Adapt to Changing Family Forms, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Ginn, J. 2003b, ‘Pension and poverty traps: is saving worthwhile for women?’, Journal of Financial Services Marketing, 7, 4, 319329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ginn, J., Street, D. and Arber, S. (eds) 2001, Women, Work and Pensions. International Issues and Prospects, Buckingham: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Ginn, J. and Arber, S. 1993, ‘Pension penalties: the gendered division of occupational welfare’, Work, Employment and Society, 7, 1, 4770.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ginn, J. and Arber, S. 1996, ‘Patterns of employment, gender and pensions: the effect of work history on older women's non-state pensions’, Work, Employment and Society, 10, 3, 469490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ginn, J. and Arber, S. 1999, ‘Changing patterns of pension inequality: a shift from state to private sources’, Ageing and Society, 19, 319342.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ginn, J., Arber, S., Brannen, J., Dale, A., Dex, S., Elias, P., Moss, P., Pahl, J., Roberts, C. and Rubery, J. 1996, ‘Feminist fallacies: a reply to Hakim on women's employment’, British Journal of Sociology, 47, 1, 167172.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Glover, J. 1994, ‘Women teachers and white-collar workers: domestic circumstances and paid work’, Work, Employment and Society, 8, 1, 87100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gough, O. 2004, ‘Why do employees, particularly women, reject occupational pension schemes?’ Employee Relations, 26, 5, 480494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Government Actuary's Department (GAD) 2003, Occupational Pension Schemes 2000: Eleventh Survey by the Government Actuary, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Groves, D. 1992, ‘Occupational pension provision and women's poverty in old age’, in Glendinning, C. and Millar, J.. (eds), Women and Poverty in Britain, Brighton: Wheatsheaf.Google Scholar
Hannah, L. 1986, Inventing Retirement: The Development of Occupational Pensions in Britain, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Healy, G. 1999, ‘Structuring commitments in interrupted careers: career breaks, commitment and the life cycle’, Teaching, 6, 4, 185201.Google Scholar
MacNicol, J. 2006, Age Discrimination: An Historical and Contemporary Analysis, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahony, P., Hextall, I. and Menter, I. 2004, ‘Threshold assessment and performance management: modernising or masculinizing teaching in England?’, Gender and Education, 16, 2, 131149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mann, K. 2001, Approaching Retirement: Social Divisions, Welfare and Exclusion, Bristol: Polity Press.Google Scholar
NAHT 1998, Memorandum from the National Association of Head Teachers. Appendix six to the select Committee of Education and Employment ninth report: the role of headteachers, London, The Stationary Office.Google Scholar
NUT 2001, Women and Senior Management: An NUT Survey, http://www.teachers.org.uk/resources/pdf/women_senior_manage.pdf (Accessed 5 January 2005).Google Scholar
Pensions Commission 2004, Pensions: Challenges and Choices: The First Report of the Pensions Commission, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Pensions Commission 2005, A New Pensions Settlement for the Twenty-First Century: The Second Report of the Pensions Commission, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) 2003, The Pensions Landscape, London: Pensions Policy Institute.Google Scholar
Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) 2006, Pension Facts March 2006, London: Pensions Policy Institute.Google Scholar
Rowlingson, K. 2002, ‘Private pension planning: the rhetoric of responsibility, the reality of insecurity’, Journal of Social Policy, 31, 4, 623642.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simpson, D. 2003, ‘How to clear up the pensions mess’, Financial Services Regulation, Institute for Economic Affairs, 11–15.Google Scholar
Smulyan, L. 2004, ‘Choosing to teach: reflections on gender and social change’, Teachers' College Record, 106, 3, 513543.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teachernet 2007, ‘Questions and answers for members of the teachers’ pension scheme’, http://www.teacherspensions.co.uk (Accessed 9thrd April 2007).Google Scholar
Trade Union Congress (TUC) 2001, Teachers to Benefit From New TUC Teachers National Stakeholder Pension Scheme, London: Trade Union Congress.Google Scholar
Walker, A and Foster, L. 2006a, ‘Caught between virtue and ideological necessity – a century of pensions policy in the UK’, The Review of Political Economy, 18, 3, 427448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, A and Foster, L. 2006b, ‘Class and ageing: an enduring relationship’, in Vincent, J., Phillipson, C. and Downs, M.. (eds), The Futures of Old Age, London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Women and Equality Unit 2003, ‘Towards a closing of the gender pay gap’, United Kingdom Country Report, Department of Trade and Industry, http://www.eoc.org.uk/Default.aspx?page=15469 (Accessed 21 May 2004).Google Scholar