In a May 1999 ruling, Greece's Supreme Court found that different retirement ages for women and men are discriminatory and ruled that women must retire at the same age as men (65). The effect is to raise women's retirement age by up to seven years, and the GSEE trade union confederation is opposed to any such increase.
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In a May 1999 ruling, Greece's Supreme Court found that different retirement ages for women and men are discriminatory and ruled that women must retire at the same age as men (65). The effect is to raise women's retirement age by up to seven years, and the GSEE trade union confederation is opposed to any such increase.
In its Decision No. 266/1999 of 5 May 1999, the Supreme Court ruled that women must retire at the same age as men (65), thus increasing women's retirement age by five to seven years. According to the Supreme Court, the principal of equality is the criterion for this specific decision, which brings the retirement age for women into line with that for men, in both the private and public sectors. In particular, applying Article 4 of the Greek Constitution (on equality), as well as the relevant European Community Directive (Directive 76/207/EEC on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women), the court ruled that: "when the law provides for different retirement ages for men and women, this introduces sex discrimination not justified by any serious cause attributable to the biological or psychological traits of women or men that would render sex a factor of decisive importance."
The chair of the Greek General Confederation of Labour (GSEE) responded to the ruling by stating that, together with its legal advisors, the organisation will examine all facets of the court ruling, and added that the current situation regarding women's social security and retirement age is connected to many aspects of social life and the particularities which exist for women, and that any change for the worse is impermissible. He also stressed that workers and the trade union movement have a clear-cut position that any changes in the current system should come about through broad social dialogue and should be based on long-term policies of reform and sustainability of the system, and that in no case should retirement ages be raised. Stating that the GSEE does not criticise court rulings, the chair noted that for women in particular current retirement ages have to do with their position in general and not just at work. This fact, particularly in Greece, makes it necessary to include other parameters in calculations, such as demographic problems, lower accessibility of the labour market for women, higher unemployment, and in general a range of factors regarding employment issues.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (1999), Retirement age raised for women, article.
