Free Movement, Social Security and Gender in the EU

This work examines the system of co-ordination of national social security laws in the European Union from a gender perspective. The central question raised in it concerns the level of social security protection of women moving throughout the Union in the case of work interruption or marriage dissolution. The social security protection of women has traditionally been based on two criteria, namely economic activity and family/marriage. Work interruptions, in particular for child-rearing, challenge the invocation of economic activity as an effective basis for social security rights. Changed social and family conditions, including the emergence of atypical relationships and increase in divorce rates, challenge the criterion of family/marriage. Efforts have been made within the framework of the national systems of the Member States to address these challenges, often unsuccessfully. How successful then has the European system of co-ordination, the aim of which is to provide a sufficient level of protection to migrant workers and their families, been in addressing these challenges?