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Nqobile Tshili Bulawayo Bureau

MEN receive lower pensions than women due to the statistical fact that women tend to live longer, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister July Moyo, revealed during in a parliamentary session last week.

While acknowledging that equal pay was maintained during employment, Minister Moyo said the situation changed when pension distributions arose, as women received higher amounts in anticipation of their longer life expectancy.

Figures showed that retired women normally lived for 11 years and seven months, while men could expect to live for 10 years and two months.

“The difference is that if we were at the same level, earning the same amount, the commutation that you get as a woman is more than what I am getting. This is because they consider that you are going to live longer than me.

“This was done by those who do actuarial science that retired women normally live for 11 years and 7 months, whilst as a man, I live for 10 years and 2 months. So, I get less commutation than a woman,” Minister Moyo said.

Bulawayo Provincial Social Development Officer, Ms Energy Mlambo, said the revelations that women live longer than men underlined concerns as to how men coped with social pressures upon retirement.

She said most men become lonely and feel marginalised within the parent-child relationship dynamic post-retirement.

“In general, it is true that men cannot contain the pressure of being home and dealing with family issues. That is why those who drink will not even spend time at home. They will just wake up and go to drinking spots and spend their time with other men because the conditions at home may not be favourable to them. The situation may be quite stressful for them,” said Ms Mlambo.

“For instance, the wife can even pass such comments as akusuke sifuna uku-cleaner, siya-cleaner njani utshona uhlezi (can you move, we want to clean, how do you expect us to clean when you are always sitting).

“As a result, men just suffer in silence and it is partly cultural that indoda ifela ngaphakathi. This leads to them developing chronic illnesses where they can even collapse and die. So generally men live shorter after they retire,” she said.

Padare/Enkundleni Men’s Forum programmes manager, Mr Ziphongezipho Ndebele, said most men become lonely when they leave their jobs.

“Most men spend their time at work, their colleagues become their friends and part of their social life. But when they leave their jobs, they become idle, disconnected from their friends and become stressed and also depressed.

“They will no longer have the financial control they used to enjoy and some of them will not be having relationships with their children as what they used to when they were providing for the families,” said Mr Ndebele.

He said children develop a closer bond with their mothers as they mature to the extent that they maintain more frequent contact with them even after leaving home. This trend often results in fathers feeling marginalised in the parent-child relationship dynamic.

“Some children would have moved to the diaspora and rarely do they invite their fathers to visit them. But you will see them inviting their mothers where they are based. Even when they call home, they will call their mother’s phone and would just ask about the well-being of the father and if they speak to him it will just be a minute or two compared to the time they spend communicating with their mothers,” he said.

Mr Ndebele said it was important for men to plan for retirement, including starting viable projects that can keep them busy when they retire.

He said it was also important for them to also build relations with their families beyond the workplace.