however while contribution credits can be a valuable tool to improve womens pension benefits they are unlikely to close gender gaps in coverage and benefits on their own and need to be conceived as part of a wider package of gender equalityenhancing measures in a context of gendered labour markets contributory pension systems face several constraints to guarantee universal and adequate pension benefits for women women s lives of work are different from men s in a number of important aspects and these differences affect gender equality in pension entitlements even under genderneutral pension system rules