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Meanwhile, pension reforms in many countries inEurope are eroding entitlements. France, Greece,Ireland, Italy and Spain have tightened eligibilityrules, strengthened the link between contributionsand earnings or shifted their benefit formulas fromfinal salary to average lifetime earnings. In othercountries, benefit indexation has been reducedor frozen. These measures are likely to have adisproportionate impact on women. To mitigatethis risk, some countries have introduced measuresto strengthen women’s pension entitlementsalongside broader cost-containment reforms.In Spain, for example, recent reforms raised theretirement age as well as the number of years ofcontributions required for a full pension, but theyalso increased survivor benefits and care credits. 113Reforming contributory pension systemsKey features of pension design, including eligibilityrequirements and a pension formulas, affect howmuch gender inequalities in the labour market spillover into old age. As a general rule, the closer the linkbetween pension entitlements and past employmentand contribution records, the greater women’s socioeconomicdisadvantage vis-à-vis men.In contributory schemes, individuals are typicallyentitled to benefit at retirement age if they complywith a minimum number of years of work and/or contributions, sometimes referred to as the‘vesting period’. Long vesting periods can limitwomen’s access to retirement benefits if there areno adequate mechanisms in place to compensatefor time dedicated to unpaid care and domesticwork. In Argentina, for example, when the vestingperiod was increased to 30 years in the early1990s, women’s coverage dropped from 73 percent to 65 per cent. 114 The trend was reversed adecade later when contributory requirements werewaived, increasing overall access and reducingthe gender gap in pension coverage. In addition,many countries have traditionally set the retirementage for women up to five years before that ofmen (Annex 5). 115 This can have negative outcomesfor women’s income security in systems whereentitlements are strongly linked to contributions,as in the Chilean individual capital account system(see Figure 3.6).Benefit formulas specify how benefit levels arecalculated for each pensioner, typically basedon past contributions or earnings. Formulas thatclosely reflect earnings and contributory historiestend to generate lower benefits for women thanmen, while the inclusion of flat or redistributivecomponents tend to favour women. The periodof earnings taken into account is also relevant forgender equality as is the existence of minimumbenefits and mechanisms for indexation, meaningthat pensions are regularly adjusted to inflationor wage increases. When benefits are calculatedbased on average lifetime earnings rather thanfinal salary, for example, the penalties for timespent out of the labour market will be greater.When benefits are not indexed, pensioners maystruggle to maintain living standards when the costof living rises. Since women live longer than men,they face higher risks of depreciation of the valueof their pensions. 116Care creditsCare-related contribution credits are anotherimportant policy tool to improve the adequacyof old-age pensions for women. They are widelyused in developed countries and have recentlybeen introduced in some developing countries too.Care credits acknowledge and compensate forcontributions that were lost due to time spent outof the labour force—usually by women—caring fordependants. They can be provided irrespective ofwhether the care is provided to children, the elderly,the sick or people with disabilities, although inpractice credits are primarily awarded for caringfor children. 117 In Uruguay, for example, women arecredited with one year of contributions per child, upto a maximum of five children. Since 2010, mothersin the Plurinational State of Bolivia benefit from acare credit equivalent to one year of contributions perchild, up to a maximum of three children. The creditcan be used to get better benefits or to retire earlier. 118Care credits are a valuable tool to improvewomen’s pensions in contributory systems, aspart of a wider package of equality-enhancingmeasures, and contribute to redressing women’ssocio-economic disadvantage in old age. Theyare less relevant in countries with low contributory153