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In the new context of ageing, social participation during retirement has become a central issue. While the overall picture looks good, inequalities in the opportunity to invest in these activities cannot be overlooked. This article aims to analyze these issues in the case of collective commitment –associative, voluntary, and political/union –from a gender perspective. Building on data from two cross-sectional surveys on living conditions of individuals aged sixty-five and over in Switzerland conducted in 1979 (n=1519) and 2011 (n=1097), we show that discrimination against women remains. Further analysis of the 2011 data confirms these trends by considering a broader system of inequalities and resources. Our results also highlight specific logics of collective commitment according to gender. They show the significant gap between women with and without a high level of education in accessing activities involving decision-making power. Men’s collective commitment on the other hand appears to be more dependent on their close network.