An Analysis of Gender Gaps in the Private Pension Scheme in Turkey

Abstract

This study analyzes the Individual Pension System, which was introduced in 2003 as an essential part of the ongoing social security system in Turkey, from gendered perspective. Gender is an important analytical category in studies on social security systems. In this context, the study aims to contribute to the literature by analyzing the private pension scheme in Turkey. By using the actual data of over 1.3 million participants in the system provided by the Pension Monitoring Center, the study aims to decompose the determinants of the discrepancy in premiums between men and women. In this context, as expected, there is no remarkable gender gap in terms of payments into the system. However, the analysis is extended to consider different income groups and the effect of some socio-economic variables such as education and human development level of the participant’s origin on the within group gender gap