Full-time social security

The European social model is based on the standard of the male worker who will have a full time job from the beginning of his twenties until his sixties and doesn’t have to worry about the household or the kids. This is not the reality but just half of it! Next to jobs and unemployment benefits, the system should provide health care, child care, pensions, and much more. By not doing so, or at least not properly, the system forces families to take care of it themselves – usually resulting in women staying at home or working less – and causes injustices to the care-takers by not recognising their worth to the system. Because benefits and pensions are often derived from wages and women generally work and earn less and are more often employed in the informal sector (like cleaning or babysitting), many women encounter problems after divorce or at age.

Full social security needs to be provided for everyone, independent of the number of hours you work per week or have worked in your life. A system that forces half of the population to leave the labour market for the household and then fails to recognise the importance of the tasks being done there, is unfair and clearly needs reform!