The subject of the paper is the concept of gender mainstreaming and its trans- fer into the national social policy. The authors start their considerations of the concept from the aspect of discourse and its importance for policy trans- fer. This is followed by the analysis od the evolution of the concept in the European Union, along with taking into account the perspectives of member states, as well as an overview of relevant body of literature on potential and practical significance of gender mainstreaming for the realization of gender equality. The focus is on one of the areas of social policy, i.e. pension policy, which has been under reforms for a long period. Considerations of the gen- der aspect of pension reforms in Serbia show that the perspective of substan- tial justice, i.e. justice based on outcomes, has been neglected.