ABSTRACT
The shifts in welfare resource flows and the (re)definition of specific entitlements that took place over the past two decades remodelled the complexity of welfare arrangements. In most analyses, these developments have been considered to be gender neutral. This article shows that, in the case of pension system reform, men and women have been affected differently. The resources to finance the welfare state flow mainly through wages. This is notably the case for the specific welfare arrangement of pensions. Therefore, attributions of entitlements presuppose substantial participation in the labour market, whereas there are two factors that hamper compliance with these presuppositions:
1 labour markets are characterized by exclusions and inequalities; 2 these disadvantages are reproduced and partly augmented by welfare state
arrangements (Harvey & Randles 2003).
