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TOWARDS GENDER EQUALITYIN SOCIAL TRANSFER SYSTEMSSOCIAL TRANSFERS AND WOMEN’S INCOMESECURITYSocial transfers—such as child and familyallowances, unemployment benefits, paidmaternity and parental leave, old-age pensionsand disability benefits—play a major part inreducing poverty and inequality. 16 From a humanrights perspective, thoughtfully designed socialtransfer systems not only bolster the right to anadequate standard of living but also contribute tothe realization of other rights, including those toeducation, food, health and work. 17 They encourageinvestments in skills and human capabilities,facilitate the acquisition of productive assets,stabilize demand in times of economic downturn,stimulate productive activity and assist people inlooking for employment. 18Social transfers can be powerful toolsfor redressing women’s socio-economicdisadvantage. Women are particularly vulnerableto economic insecurity and financial dependencedue to their unequal employment opportunities.Changes in family and household structure alsohave major implications for women’s incomesecurity (see Box 3.2). In many parts of the world,large numbers of women raise children on theirown, and the migration of both women andmen raises additional challenges for the care ofchildren or elderly parents. Informal safety netsare increasingly fragile: many households simplycannot afford to extend support to others forlong periods, while community-based supportis frequently minimal and precarious. 19 Socialtransfers can mitigate these risks and lessen theeffect of market-induced inequalities.BOX 3.2Changing demographic, family and household structures: New challenges for social protectionBoth developing and developed countries have experienced major shifts in patterns of familyformation and living arrangements, including population ageing, the postponement of marriage,declining fertility, increasing rates of cohabitation outside marriage, a rise in same-sex unions, risingrates of divorce and a growth in single-person, female- or child-headed and multi-generationaland transnational households. These shifts have led to a huge diversity in family and householdstructures, challenging stereotypical assumptions about the ‘family’ that have long underpinnedsocial policy in different countries and regions. 20Today, about 15 per cent of children in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD) countries live in single-parent households—and this number is expected to grow. 21 Women,who head 85 per cent of these households in the OECD, 22 often cannot—or choose not to—rely onincome transfers from a male breadwinner. Across a range of developed countries, single-mother