Starting Tuesday, mothers in France will see a small increase in their retirement pensions due to a recent policy change. This adjustment affects how their pensions are calculated, taking into account the best years of their careers. For mothers with one child, the reference salary will now be based on the 24 best years of their career, down from 25 previously. For those with two or more children, it will be based on 23 years. This change is part of a broader effort to address the pension gap between men and women. The new rules are the result of last year's budget negotiations and were proposed by the Lecornu government to secure support for the 2026 Social Security budget. The government worked with social partners—representatives of employers, workers, and unions—to develop these changes during a major pension discussion in the summer of 2025. The goal was to make the pension system fairer by recognizing the career interruptions many women experience due to childbearing and childcare. Under the new rules, mothers can also count up to two quarters of leave related to the birth of a child toward their eligibility for early retirement. This means that women with long careers may be able to retire earlier than they otherwise would. The government estimates that this change will increase the average pension of affected women by about 1 percent. However, it will also place a financial burden on the pension system, with costs expected to range from 0.2 billion to 2.2 billion euros between 2030 and 2050. The early retirement provision for long careers is expected to have its maximum impact in 2028, when around 12,000 people will be affected. The cost of this part of the measure is estimated at about 200 million euros annually starting from 2027. These changes reflect a broader effort to balance fairness and sustainability in France’s pension system.