Constitutional Court has declared that the requirement for women to make 1,300 weeks of pension contributions to obtain an old age pension is unconstitutional

At a glance

• The Constitutional Court of Columbia has found that women were being indirectly discriminated against in regard to their pensions, and therefore pension protection must be applied to eliminate discrimination.

The Constitutional Court has found that pension protection must be applied progressively under conditions of equality to eliminate any direct or indirect discrimination between men and women.

It has concluded that article 9 of Law 797 of 2003 is indirectly discriminatory against women and that this must be rectified (also taking into account the difficulties that women face in accessing employment, remaining in employment and assuming household care obligations).

It is therefore decided that women may access an old age pension with a reduced number of contributory weeks (1,000 instead of 1,300).

The effects of this decision will apply from 1 January 2026 assuming that Congress does not legislate on this matter. As of this date, the minimum number of contributory weeks required from women to obtain an old age pension will reduce by 50 weeks for the year 2026 and, as from 1 January 2027, it will be reduced by 25 weeks each year until reaching 1,000 weeks.