Call for early retirement for women

FNC committee chairman calls for change in the law because women spend too much time at work and not enough with their families.

Najla Al Awadhi, a representative from Dubai, argued that encouraging people to retire early would be counter productive.

ABU DHABI // A Federal National Council committee is leading an effort that would allow women in the federal government to retire after just 15 years of service.

The proposal would also abolish the minimum retirement age of 50 for women.

The call arose from the complaints of federal employees, most of them teachers, doctors and nurses, who complained of "mental and physical exhaustion" and the distance they felt from their children as they were growing up, said Dr Sultan al Muazzin, the chairman of the health, labour and social affairs committee.

"This is not limiting the role of women, the calls for this came from them, not from the members," he said.

Under previous rules, a woman could retire from her federal job only after 25 years of service.

Retired federal employees usually earn a pension that is equivalent to the salary of an employee at their pay grade.

Women complained that they spent too much time at work and not enough time with their families, Dr al Muazzin said.

The proposal would compensate for the lacklustre benefits federal teachers and doctors get, he said.

Women make up the majority of the public school corps because most Emirati men shy away from teaching jobs.

The change would also help fight unemployment, he said. "We are now talking about high unemployment numbers, whether male or female graduates who are unable to find work," added Dr al Muazzin.

Since women can retire earlier, it is possible for cash-strapped ministries that have limited hiring slots to employ more young nationals graduating from college.

Most federal ministries have had directives freezing new hirings in non-technical jobs that expired at the beginning of 2011, he added.

Nevertheless, such a policy could undermine elements of a national agenda that promotes economic participation by nationals, a growing role for women in the workforce and Emiratisation.

It would also put further strain on the recently cut federal budget by bankrolling longer retirement.

It comes at a time when several countries are trying to raise the retirement age in an effort to rein in welfare spending in the wake of the financial crisis.

"Anything that's encouraging people to retire quickly, especially Emiratis, sounds counterproductive quite frankly," said Najla al Awadhi, a representative from Dubai. The proposal would create "challenges to the national agenda", she said.

Ms al Awadhi said she was more in favour of instituting policies like flexible working hours, nurseries, work environments that are women-friendly, and equal benefits for female employees, which would "help women reach a healthy work-life balance".

"You can't afford to have women not partaking and engaging in economic activity," she said.

Ms al Awadhi said that the proposal would add to the costs of the federal government.

"We should be cautious, we should be prudent in our spending and not be so much about the government and welfare state," she said.

Instead, citizens should be encouraged to contribute more to the country's economic growth. "We should not create this comfort zone for people to work a relatively short number of years compared to a developed market and then go into retirement," she said.

"Short-term gains of comfort, of being able to retire early, are not necessarily healthy for our economy and our social development."

"Is it merely a question of retirement, or are women asking for changes within the work environment that would allow them to continue working?" asked Dr May al Dabbagh, the director of gender and public policy programme at the Dubai School of Government. "We need a better understanding of why women are asking for changes in the current system and what it is that's not letting them sustain their jobs."

* Additional reporting from Manal Ismail