Women and social welfare

This chapter reviews the Irish social security system from a gender and feminist perspective. It first reflects on the historical path of Irish social security policy and shows how gender segregation is deeply rooted in Irish social policy. It then reflects on the consequences of such gender segregation and how women experience the risk of poverty and economic dependence. The following section reflects on reform possibilities and examines what needs to be done to achieve a woman’s model of social security reform.The final section puzzles about the lack of pace of regarding such urgent and necessary reform. It concludes that the lack of pace in gender related social security reform is clearly linked to women’s unequal political participation.