Statutory schemes of social security (Directive 79/7)

• Author: Jenny Julen Votinius
• Pages: 38-39

38

7Statutory schemes of social security (Directive 79/7)

7.1General (legal) context

7.1.1Surveys and reports on the practical difficulties linked to statutory schemes of social

security (Directive 79/7)

In 2014, a Government Report was launched on gender equality in the social insurance

system (Government Report SOU 2014:74). The conclusion of the report was that despite

the social insurances being gender neutral, they sometimes have different effects for

women and men, as women and men live under partly different conditions. For instance:

the construction of the guarantee pension means that this pension will lag behind both

earned income and other pensions. This has gender aspects, as many women have, in

whole or in part, their pension from the guarantee pension. The problem is the effect of

the guarantee pension. It is designed according to principles of price indexing instead of

income indexing. As a consequence, the guarantee pension is bound to lag behind both

wages and other forms of pension.

Another example is that unemployment benefits are paid for only a short time, which is

something that mainly affects women. This is because women often work in labour market

sectors where part-time employment ismore frequent, which means that many employees

are part-time unemployed for long periods of time. Furthermore, the report states the

need for a thorough investigation of the correlation between the ceilings in the social

insurance and the distribution ofparental leave, which is of importance for how the care

of children and household work is distributed between men and women.As it is more

common for men than for women to have an income above the ceiling, the ceiling affects

men to a larger extent than women. This also means that the ceiling may discourage men

from taking up parental leave.

7.1.2Other relevant issues

There are no other relevant issues to be reported.

7.1.3Overview of national acts

The national social security scheme is regulated in the Social Security Code (2010:110)

7.1.4Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals

There are no political or societal debates, nor any pending legislative proposals.

7.2Implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in

matters of social security

The (2008:567) Discrimination Act (DA) covers, according to its Chapter 2 Section14 –

among other areas of society –the Swedish social insurance system, regulated in the SSC,

and unemployment insurance. The regulation in Section 14 paragraph 2 states that the

prohibition of discrimination associated with sex does not prevent the application of

provisions concerning a widow’s pension or the payment of child allowance. There are no

longer any widow’s pensions in Sweden, though, apart from an old scheme covering a very

reduced group due to transitional rules.

7.3Personal scope

Generally speaking, the Swedish social security system is individual and based on either

residence or gainful activities, including both employment and self-employment. Many

schemes – such as that on parental leave and pensions –include a guaranteed level