The social security system in Iran, which serves as the foundation of welfare policy-making, is structurally based on the "male breadwinner" paradigm. This framework has resulted in the marginalization of a significant portion of the female population and the failure to align its insurance mechanisms with their actual economic livelihoods. The objective of this​ investigation is to investigate gender inequality within Iran's social insurance system, thereby elucidating the current gaps in insurance coverage and access to benefits. It employs a secondary analysis of data from insurance organizations from 2019 to 2025. The data were collected from the statistical yearbooks of the three primary insurance funds in the country, and the results of the 2025 Labour Force Survey were also incorporated. The results suggest that, despite a 5.6% increase in the proportion of female insured individuals over the past six years, a significant disparity in the quality of access to sustainable support continues to exist. In 2025, women comprised only 27% of active contributors to the Social Security Organization, despite their representation of over 49% of the country's population aged 15 to 64. The classification of 91% of women as survivors' pensioners, which is a circumstance that impedes their ability to establish sustained economic independence, is revealed by the distinction between “primary pension recipients” and “derivative” beneficiaries. Furthermore, the “survivorship trap” phenomenon, which has been explicated, illustrates that the 91% concentration is the result of the perpetuation of conventional roles within insurance legislation. Ultimately, the findings confirm the fact that the current insurance system, rather than empowering women as independent agents, tends to perpetuate patterns of subsistence dependency.