This Sunday closes the measure that has allowed many people to access retirement without having reached 30 years of required contributions.
What is the discussion to which President Javier Milei takes us? In her words, her mother did not deserve a retirement equal to that of her father because she “had never worked.” Millions of Argentines will pay with misery the decisions of a president who does not recognize or values the work of his own mother?
The moratorium to retire ends this March 23 and the national government has already announced that it will not renew it. In Argentina, Only 1 in 10 women meet the requirements to retire in a timely manner. That is, 9 out of 10 reaches the age of retiring without having been able to fulfill the contribution years established by law. With the expiration of the moratorium they will no longer be able to retire from the age of 60 and only since 65 could collect the universal pension for the older adult that is 80% of the minimum retirement (and does not include a bonus). Between 60 and 65 they will be without any income. Here the issue that Milei and his followers do not want to answer is, from now on, how are they going to live?
Today, the Argentine pension system is composed of 7.2 million retirement and pensions. Of that total, 59.5% (4.3 million) was obtained through a moratorium. There is a fact that stands out: of the total number of people who access retirement via moratorium, almost 80% are women (INDEC, 2024). Because? Among other reasons, because much of time and energy throughout women’s life is dedicated to unpaid care work, tasks that, anyone occupies seven days a week and 24 hours a day. Don’t those women have a minimum retirement right? What kind of society is the one that does not recognize that right to those who deal with people’s well -being, to the continuity and care of life?
That is why we say, once again, that Milei insists, seeks and hopes to strip the population – and especially women – their fundamental rights.
Law No. 27,705 “Pension Payment Plan”, sanctioned in February 2023, allowed more than 300 thousand people who did not gather all the contributions when they reach the age to retire (60 or 65 years, depending on whether they are women or men) they could access their pension rights through a monthly payment plan, which works discount to perceive.
Pension moratoriums guarantee dignified subsistence rights and conditions in old age. But, in addition, they have a specific impact on the lives of women due to the deep inequalities that still exist throughout their work career: at the national level, the employment rate is lower (46.8% for women and 66.1% for men) and the unemployment is higher (7.5% women and 5.5% men). In addition, 4 out of 10 salaried women have an informal job and almost 1 in 4 serves in activities related to care such as health and education. All this impacts the gender wage gap that, currently, is 27.4% on average.
In the midst of the fierce adjustment that this government is implementing and the brutal economic crisis that causes thousands of jobs to be lost every day, will women depend on their daughters and sons (if they have) when they are likely that they themselves cannot maintain or their own homes? Do you want to let them die? What is clearly warned is that we talk about an act of deep cruelty and indifference.
The end of the moratorium is the invitation to an old age in destitution. Faced with resistance, they already demonstrated their response: gases and sticks without the slightest contemplation. Our response is a strong defense of the distribution retirement system, based on intergenerational solidarity. Today, more than ever, we say: the care of our old and old is our first responsibility.
Minister of Women, Gender Policies and Sexual Diversity of the Province of Buenos Aires
Source: Ambito
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