all these features compromise their pension entitlements in pension systems that link benefits to paid work contributions and earnings this paper deals with the challenges and constraints that pension systems face to be gender equitable and the policy alternatives to address these challenges the economic protection of women in later life depends on several factors that intersectincluding pension system rules labour market conditions and family arrangements over the past and present this paperfocuses on pension system rules and how they interact with other social and labour market conditions over women s life courses to reproduce or mitigate gender inequalities in old age