these provisions take basically two forms special benefits for divorcees or regulations for pension sharing or pension splitting after divorce on the other hand some countries that have a pension model based on individual rather than derived pension rights such as finland and sweden and protect divorcees in a different way by making everyone eligible for a pension benefit independent of past or present family situation choi european commission i tablei however they may not be sufficient where there is unequal distribution of unpaid care work between women and men foster points out that in the united kingdom for instance children are on average years old at the time of divorce so caring responsibilities are still likely to reduce mothers earnings for some years afterwards these gaps in earning history can thus continue to compromise women s pensions even after sharing the pension rights and contributions accumulated over marriage see for exampleginn frericks et al