Restructuring of pension systems and gender arrangements in Germany and Great Britain

Abstract

"Over the last decades pension reforms have had to address the change of the gender arrangements in many European countries from the traditional housewife marriagetowards modernised forms. This brings with it a need for a re-structuring of pensions away from housewife based towards individualised systems, which recognise periods of leave and part-time work of parents. The aim of this paper is toassess in what way such new demands were considered in pension reforms. We ask to what extent they survived along side other pressures and what contradictions andnew problems of gender inequality have developed in pension systems as a consequence. The paper compares Germany and Great Britain, societies with similar gender arrangements and modernisation paths, which at the same time represent different welfare regimes." (text extract)