Just read the article, which was from 2020.
I didn’t know that men could have their NI contributions paid for ages 60-65 from 1983 to 2018.
When this was first introduced it would appear fair, as men’s retirement age was 65, and women’s retirement age was 60, and the concern was that in the economic recession and unemployment situation of the early 1980s older men were losing their job and couldn’t find re-employment, so it put men and women in the same position.
Obviously it became unfair once women’s pension age started to increase from 2010 onwards. According to the article the government had promised to introduce it for women once the pension age started to go up, but reneged on the promise.