Specific normative definitions of social and gender inequality inherent in both societies also influence the situation of the care receivers. Both the higher life expectancy and their typical life situation leave women in both countries far more dependent on social services for adequate social care. At the same time, people in the low or even middle strata are less able to purchase social services on the regular market. From the perspective of the elderly people in Germany, the low level of the benefits, which serve only basic needs, strengthens inequality in the form and amount of care available. A parallel reference to informal family-based social care increases the responsibility of female family members in the provision of social care. Both lead to a growing polarisation of the wealthy, on the one hand, and the poorer people, on the other, and enlarge the burden of women in the middle and low strata of society.