Female-dominated sectors push for early retirement in Spain

Several traditionally female-dominated professions, such as home care workers, hotel housekeepers and cabin crew, are pushing for access to early retirement due to the physical strain and wear their jobs entail.

Spain's Social Security has peine a door for the toughest sectors to request an assessment of their working conditions and, if the hardship is proven, gain access to early retirement. Initially, highly male-dominated industries with high accident rates, such as transport and construction, were considered. However, attention has now turned to jobs with a high concentration of women, where physical wear and sick leave are also a palpable reality.

## The invisible toll of care work

The home care sector is one of those gaining the most momentum in this demand. It is estimated to employ around **150,000 workers**, the vast majority of them women. The daily work of these professionals involves considerable physical effort, lifting weights, moving people and performing tasks that take a toll on backs and joints. Union sources such as **Daniel Barragán** of **CC OO** point out that "none of them reach their final years in good physical shape". **Moisés Torres** of **UGT Servicios Públicos** sums it up bluntly: "I think this is the sector in the country that needs it most. Many of them are more in need of care than able to give it".

Although it is not characterised by a high accident rate in the strictest sense, it does show elevated levels of temporary incapacity. The hope is that the Social Security assessment will recognise this continuous wear. The request, expected to be filed in the coming weeks, focuses on domestic workers, excluding for now other care professionals such as nursing home staff, although the latter are also on the unions' radar. Implementing corrective measures for hardship in private homes is harder than in more controlled settings such as care homes.

The sector's employers' association, represented by the **Asociación Estatal de Entidades de Servicios de Atención a Domicilio** (state association of home care providers), headed by **Ignacio Gamboa**, is receptive to advancing rights for these professionals. However, it calls for a rigorous technical analysis of temporary incapacity before the request is formalised. A key concern for employers is the economic cost that higher contributions would entail. As a sector heavily dependent on public procurement, with narrow margins, any cost increase would force a review of contracts with public administrations.

## Hotel housekeepers: a cry for recognition

Another heavily feminised group raising its voice is that of hotel housekeepers. They are estimated to number around **175,000 workers**, many of them immigrants, doing physically demanding and often precarious work. In this case, **UGT** has taken the lead by filing the request for reduced retirement coefficients on its own, without the initial backing of **CC OO**. **Omar Rodríguez**, hospitality sector officer at **UGT**, speaks of a "clamour" among workers who "deserve to be able to retire earlier" as they suffer "huge numbers of musculoskeletal conditions".

**UGT's** decision to act alone has caused friction with **CC OO**. **Marcos Gutiérrez**, head of **CC OO Servicios**, criticises the lack of union coordination, especially in a context of union elections, and warns that Social Security is "less receptive" to requests without sector-wide consensus. Despite the differences, both unions are expected to end up collaborating, but first **CC OO** wants to make sure there is a clear "employer veto", as has peine in construction. They have requested a meeting with employers' associations at the end of September to learn their definitive position.

The main employers' body involved is the **Confederación Española de Hoteles y Alojamientos Turísticos (CEHAT)** (Spanish confederation of hotels and tourist accommodation). The organisation says the matter will be discussed soon and that no decision has yet been taken. The pressure, however, is coming from the regions with the largest tourism industries. In **Baleares** and **Canarias**, regional parliaments have approved initiatives urging the adoption of reduced retirement coefficients for these workers, evidence of growing concern about their working conditions.

## Inequality in the air: cabin crew

The third major feminised sector demanding attention is cabin crew, a group of around **15,000 workers**. Unlike pilots, who have enjoyed early retirement for decades, cabin crew do not have this right. The demand here is less about the new Social Security procedure and more about a legislative change that would put them on equal footing with pilots.

The argument is clear: "It is inexplicable that with more flight hours than pilots we do not get early retirement at the same time", says **Iván Rodríguez**, communications officer for the aviation sector at **CC OO**. Hope rests on a non-binding bill filed by **Sumar** in Congress in February, calling for cabin crew to have the same reduced coefficient as pilots. **Aina Vidal**, **Sumar** MP and chair of the Labour and Social Security Committee, is confident the bill will be debated "soon" and win the backing of all political groups.

**Vidal** describes the situation as "discrimination" and denounces "deep machismo and classism" in the current rules. She points out that most sectors already benefiting from reduced coefficients are male-dominated, such as miners, police officers and sailors. The Ministry of Social Security, for its part, says it is "absolutely sensitive to the gender dimension", citing the introduction of reduced coefficients for net makers in **2023** and the improvement for shellfish gatherers. The courts have also upheld, in several rulings, cabin crew's right to a reduced coefficient similar to pilots', although this has yet to be reflected in the rules.