Chile Offers All Women a Pension of Their Own - Building Gender Balanced Business

• President Michelle Bachelet has had big success in drawing Chilean women to sign up for a new public pension offering that seeks to provide coverage for all women — including those who don’t have a typical job like homemakers.

• The program, announced in March 2008, has had larger-than-expected signups, with women making up nearly 80% of applicants in the latest reporting period.

• The pension payment is small and designed to be supplemental, but to many of the women applying, it is the only pension they can ever hope to see.

• Some groups who would normally support the program have criticized it saying the payments are too small, but others have hailed it as a step forward for all women.

• Many Chilean women’s contributors into private pensions, like in most countries, are limited by maternity leave and time off for child-rearing. Among Chileans, women pay into pension funds an average of 48% of their working lives, Ministry of Labor and Social Protection data show.

The Women’s eNews article