published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Philosophy

Li Wei. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-84). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / English Abstract --- p.ii / Chinese Abstract --- p.vii / Acknowledgements --- p.vi / Table of Contents --- p.vii / List of Graphs and Tables --- p.ix / Chapter Chapter 1: --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 2: --- Literature Review / Chapter 2.1 --- Social Security and Savings --- p.3 / Chapter 2.2 --- Pension Funds and Financial Markets --- p.10 / Chapter 2.3 --- China's Pension Reform --- p.14 / Chapter Chapter 3: --- China's Pension Reform / Chapter 3.1 --- The Evolution of Pension System --- p.18 / Chapter 3.2 --- The Background for Current Reform --- p.21 / Chapter 3.3 --- The New Pension System --- p.27 / Chapter 3.4 --- Key Issues for Future Reform --- p.31 / Chapter Chapter 4: --- The Impact of Pension Reform on Private Savings in China / Chapter 4.1 --- The Theory --- p.36 / Chapter 4.2 --- The Model --- p.40 / Chapter 4.3 --- Data and Methodology --- p.45 / Chapter 4.4 --- Empirical Results --- p.49 / Chapter Chapter 5: --- The Interaction between Pension Reform and Financial Marketin China / Chapter 5.1 --- The Effects of A Funded Pension System on Financial Market --- p.53 / Chapter 5.2 --- Pension Reform and Financial Market in China --- p.59 / Chapter Chapter 6: --- Experiences of Chile and Singapore and the Implications for China / Chapter 6.1 --- The Pension Reform in Chile --- p.69 / Chapter 6.2 --- The Central Provident Funds in Singapore --- p.70 / Chapter 6.3 --- The Implications for China --- p.71 / Chapter Chapter 7: --- Conclusion --- p.76 / Bibliography --- p.79 / Data Appendix --- p.85

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Gendered poverty among the elderly is a statistical fact. Previous studies have identified inequitable treatment of women and insufficient income for unattached elderly women among the most serious shortcomings of the retirement income system. Despite pension reform over the past decade, the gender gap has widened for elderly Canadians whose incomes fall below the poverty line. This thesis seeks to understand the relationship between the laws that govern Canada's retirement income system and the over-representation of elderly women among Canada's poor, and to explore why the retirement income system continues to deliver benefits in a manner that, though expressed in gender neutral language, is systemically unfair to women. The benefits of Canada's retirement income system may be accessed through workforce participation and, in a more limited way, through a spousal relationship. Familial ideology is used as the theoretical framework to examine the role of the laws that govern access to benefits in reinforcing and perpetuating assumptions about women that undermine their economic autonomy. This examination reveals that gendered economic inequality is embedded within Canada's retirement income system because it accepts the social and economic construction implicit in familial ideology of women as economically subordinate to, and dependent upon, men. The relationship between gender inequality and the two modes of delivery of retirement income benefits, during retirement as pension benefits and prior to retirement as tax subsidies that enhance taxpayers' opportunities to accumulate retirement savings, is also explored. A tax expenditure analysis exposes the bias against the economically disadvantaged (mostly women) inherent in delivering benefits as tax subsidies. Additionally, familial, public/private and restructuring ideologies are used as methodological tools to interrogate the reform process which, although ignoring gender issues, paradoxically deepened and compounded the systemic inequalities for women that existed prior to reform. The thesis concludes by offering suggestions for developing a progressive agenda for advancing gender equality within the retirement income system. The limitations of legal action as a strategy for implementing this type of agenda are discussed, and political action is designated as the most promising strategy for achieving progressive reform.

Gendered poverty among the elderly is a statistical fact. Previous studies have identified inequitable treatment of women and insufficient income for unattached elderly women among the most serious shortcomings of the retirement income system. Despite pension reform over the past decade, the gender gap has widened for elderly Canadians whose incomes fall below the poverty line. This thesis seeks to understand the relationship between the laws that govern Canada's retirement income system and the over-representation of elderly women among Canada's poor, and to explore why the retirement income system continues to deliver benefits in a manner that, though expressed in gender neutral language, is systemically unfair to women. The benefits of Canada's retirement income system may be accessed through workforce participation and, in a more limited way, through a spousal relationship. Familial ideology is used as the theoretical framework to examine the role of the laws that govern access to benefits in reinforcing and perpetuating assumptions about women that undermine their economic autonomy. This examination reveals that gendered economic inequality is embedded within Canada's retirement income system because it accepts the social and economic construction implicit in familial ideology of women as economically subordinate to, and dependent upon, men. The relationship between gender inequality and the two modes of delivery of retirement income benefits, during retirement as pension benefits and prior to retirement as tax subsidies that enhance taxpayers' opportunities to accumulate retirement savings, is also explored. A tax expenditure analysis exposes the bias against the economically disadvantaged (mostly women) inherent in delivering benefits as tax subsidies. Additionally, familial, public/private and restructuring ideologies are used as methodological tools to interrogate the reform process which, although ignoring gender issues, paradoxically deepened and compounded the systemic inequalities for women that existed prior to reform. The thesis concludes by offering suggestions for developing a progressive agenda for advancing gender equality within the retirement income system. The limitations of legal action as a strategy for implementing this type of agenda are discussed, and political action is designated as the most promising strategy for achieving progressive reform. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate