Israel

Abstract

Israel’s response to population ageing has included policies increasing pension age, flexible working, and privatisation of pensions. These policies have increased poverty risks for those experiencing exclusion and isolation and limited access to housing, education, quality jobs, and healthcare services. In this context, polarised gender/class positions leave women at higher risk of poverty in old age, particularly for women not living with a partner or when a pension related to a partner’swork life is not available. Only aminority of Israeliwomen currently extend their working lives, despite very low state allowances for older people. Policymakers have paid little attention to differences between men and women or among women in different circumstances. This has contributed to an assumption that raising pension age is an appropriate one-size-fits-all solution when it clearly is not.