This work examines the system of co-ordination of national social security laws in the European Union from a gender perspective. The central concern is the level of social security protection for women moving throughout the EU in the case of work interruption or marriage dissolution. The social security protection of women has traditionally been based on two criteria, namely economic activity and family/marriage. Work interruptions, in particular for child-rearing, challenge the invocation of economic activity as an effective basis for social security rights. Changed social and family...