Gender Perspective of Social Security Law

Abstract

The main purpose of Social Security Law is to regulate the social protection provided to those who, while carrying out a professional activity, find themselves in situations of need that are protected by the different Social Security systems of states. The purpose of these systems is to guarantee the welfare state and, therefore, they are increasingly inclined to extend their subjective scope of protection beyond those who carry out a professional activity. The gender perspective is not alien to Social Security law. It is essential to analyse Social Security from a gender perspective, not only because it includes protected situations arising from the very nature of women, but also due to the consequences the traditional distribution of roles between men and women has had in the field of Social Security. Both these issues will be studied in this chapter.