ABU DHABI, 17th July, 2017 (WAM) -- The Federal Pensions Law is considered a law that promotes and preserves womens rights, which is equal to the rights of men, which considers the various roles of women in serving the community, and empowers them to participate in the UAEs journey of sustainable development.

Hanan Al Sahlawi, Head of the Government Communication Office at the General Pension and Social Security Authority, GPSSA, stressed that the Federal Pensions Law grants women many privileges, including the right to a 10-year period of legal consolation services to improve their pension performance, while men are only entitled to five years of the same service.

She pointed out that women can improve their pension performance by 20 percent while men can only improve their pension performance by 10 percent, which is a privilege granted by legislators to women for taking on various roles that might prevent them from continuing to work for periods that are equal to those of some men.

She clarified that in the general laws, the beneficiaries of pensions are not allowed to combine more than one pension or more than one allocation from the Authority, and in this scenario, the largest allocation is handed out. However, the law excludes widows from this scenario, but it allows them to combine their work salaries with their share of their husbands pension, as well as their personal pension with their share in their husbands pension.

She added that despite what has been mentioned, womens pensions are divided among beneficiaries in the same way as mens pensions, as the law is equal in its distribution of pensions to beneficiaries whether the deceased is male or female. She highlighted the fact that when the wife, who is the owner of the pension dies, the children will receive their share of her pension if they are under 21 years of age or until they reach this age, but they will continue to receive the pension even after reaching this age if they are students or unable to make a living, while daughters will receive their share of their fathers or mothers pension as long as they are not married, divorced, widowed, or single, and it will stop when they get married or start working, and will be reinstated if they become divorced or widowed or unemployed, while the husband deserves a share of the pension if they are unable to make a living according to Islamic law, which gives women the right to be dependent on their husbands and not the opposite, while the childrens rights are preserved in this scenario.

Al Sahlawi stated that the law, which will order the reinstatement of every daughters and sisters share of the suspended pension due to marriage or employment in cases of divorce and unemployment, has gone further than that what was initially decided in cases where the daughter, sister or mother are widowed or divorced after the death of their father or mother, while having no salary or pension, and a share of the fund allocation from the Authoritys treasury is created without affecting the allocations for other beneficiaries.

She also pointed out that the law equally distributes pensions to beneficiaries from both sexes, and the daughters share of her fathers or mothers pension is the same as her brothers share with no difference between sons and daughters because pensions are not considered inheritance. However, it is divided according to the will of the pensions owner during their life regarding their beneficiaries. She added that the law aims to achieve the vision of the Authority of a leading, exceptional and sustainable pension system, according to the best international retirement practices.

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2017.