Women gathered on the steps of Paisley Town Hall to highlight inequalities in their pension payouts.
The women, dubbed WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequalities) made their protest ahead of a Court of Appeal challenge to a judicial review last year which dismissed their legal challenge.
Renfrewshire women have been campaigning for the last five years against a rise in the state pension age which they say has left them badly out of pocket.
More than 11,000 women across Renfrewshire are estimated to be affected by changes to the pension age.
A total of 2.6million women across the UK will not receive their state pension when they thought they would. Women born in the 1950s say the rise in state pension age from 60 to 65, then 66 this year and 67 by 2028 is unfair, claiming they were not given enough time to make adjustments to cope with years without a state pension.
Campaigners from the Back to 60 campaign had taken the UK Government to court in an attempt to force a change to the policy.
Last June judges ruled that the change in policy was not discriminatory and that women impacted were not entitled to compensation or payment for the years of lost state pension.
Now the Court of Appeal is hearing both sides of the case to make a final ruling.
Elaine Loch, one of the women affected by the changes, said: “We were delighted at the turnout. Those who couldn’t attend because of work, caring duties or shielding, supported by using social media to inform about the appeal.
“We in Renfrewshire are very fortunate to be fully supported by the two local MPs as well as councillors from SNP, Labour, Lib Dems and Conservative parties.
“We were delighted that councillors from all these parties attended the meet up at the town hall. The Provost of Renfrewshire Lorraine Cameron also fully supports the WASPI women.
“MPs Mhairi Black and Gavin Newlands joined a Zoom meeting with myself and other local WASPI’s where they again pledged their commitment to continue to fight for justice for this group of women disproportionately affected by the pension changes.”
WASPI Scotland co-ordinator Rosie Dickson added: “The so-called equalisation of State Pension Age was badly mishandled with no or insufficient notice to those affected, and in the name of equality has in fact created many inequalities as the vast majority of these women never had the same opportunities to build a decent private pension.
“The further age rise for both men and women to 66 in 2011 was a political choice and a State Pension review must be instituted as soon as possible at Westminster to learn from our experiences and to create a system fit for purpose for younger generations.”
For more information on WASPI women and their legal campaign, go to https://www.backto60.com/blog
-- to www.dailyrecord.co.uk
