ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the European strategy on the gender equality and its application in the pension provision that distinguishes between formal and the substantive gender equality. Care credits continue to be the primary compensatory mechanism for those who devote a considerable part of their life to persons in need of care, be they children, elderly or long-term sick or disabled persons. The current emphasis of care credits on childcare over other types of care, combined with the lack of a European-wide, uniform strategy to valorise care provision per se, suggests an underestimation of this demand at a critical time for the provision of long-term care. European policy makers draws attention to the impact of population ageing on the prevalence of chronic diseases, disability and dependence among older people, the concomitant increase in demand on formal care as more women enter the labour market, and the shift in the responsibility for providing care away from institutional care and towards home care.
