Pensions and gender in Latin America: Where do we stand in the Southern Cone?

This article summarizes gender-related aspects of the current social security reform paradigm in the countries of Latin America's Southern Cone—Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay. The author, Fabio M. Bertranou, begins with a review of the main elements that justify dealing with various aspects of social protection—old age, disability and survival. Bertranou then provides a summary of the main performance aspects of these reformed social security programs in the countries of the Southern Cone region in terms of providing protection for the risks of old age. Results for substitution (replacement) rates by gender are provided for Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. The author also discuss other conceptual and empirical evidence produced by other international agencies such as the World Bank and ECLAC. Finally, Bertranou discusses some of the general implications for incorporating this dimension in the debate about public policies and reforms of social protection systems, particularly pensions and related programs.