Women fight for their pension claims: discrimination in Schleiz revealed!

Women fight for their pension claims: discrimination in Schleiz revealed!

Oschitzer Straße 4, 07907 Schleiz, Deutschland - Schleiz. A dramatic injustice hits the women who were divorced in the GDR! These women are faced with poverty in old age because their pension claims from the GDR period were not recognized in the 1990 unification contract. Nadine Hofmann, the equal opportunities officer of the Saale-Orla district, reports of 70 affected women, who urgently need help in applying for funds from the federal government's hardship fund. "The women feel cheated on their lifetime performance," explains Hofmann.

In a well -attended event in the district office, 15 affected women came together to talk about their situation. Marion Böker, a consultant for human rights and gender issues, informed about the discriminatory regulations that were stipulated in the unification contract. "The discrimination against the women divorced in the GDR is a scandal!" Said Böker. Despite a first success of the UN Committee for the Women's Rights Convention in 2017, which asked Germany to develop a compensation model, only a minimal part of this claim was implemented. Instead, the hardship fund was set up in 2022, which only offers a ridiculous one -off payment of 2,500 euros - and for less than five percent of the applicants!

shocking criteria for support

The criteria for this support are terrifying: women must have been married for at least ten years, have a child and are not allowed to exceed a pension of more than 830 euros net. "I had 17 cents too much pension to get the compensation!" Canced a desperate visitor. Most women fail because of these strict guidelines and feel abandoned by politics. While some women received support from politicians such as Dietmar Bartsch, many inquiries to Prime Minister and Minister of Labor remained unanswered or were dismissed with banal answers.

The equal opportunities officer Hofmann remains an important contact for the women concerned and informs them about the developments on the pension question. Until November 14th, two exhibitions can be seen in the district office in Schleiz that draw attention to the pension claims of the women divorced in the GDR. The hiking exhibition "Man? Man! Human rights!" And the exhibition on the pension claims show depressing examples of discrimination. Time is pushing and the women concerned continue to fight for their right!