Gender Equality and Pension Systems : Critical Issues and Prospects for Italy

This work deals with the analysis and evaluation of the presence of gender disparities in European pension systems, with a special focus on Italy. We document the existence of gender gaps in the pension systems and we discuss their causes. We focus first on how the pension system design may indirectly generate differences in the amount of pensions. We then look at some specific characteristics of the pension systems which are directly tied to gender. We thus turn to the labour market and describe the gender disparities arising there which are then perpetuated by the pension system. The role of women in providing care is also crucial in determining the observed outcomes during retirement. We finally look at population ageing and its effects on gender inequalities in the pension system and we conclude with some policy suggestions