Women tend to earn less, live longer, and spend more time outside of the workforce than men. This combination of factors results in a majority of American women heading into retirement with less income than their male counterparts. And now the National Women’s Law Center [1] has released an analysis of 2009 Census data showing that 13.9 percent of women in the United States live in poverty [2]. This can make saving for retirement pretty difficult, some say even impossible.
Watch Carol G. [3] tell her story. Despite having worked for many years, Carol is worried about not having enough money to make ends meet when she retires. And then there is the story of Pamela Honeyghan [4], who has both a traditional pension and a 401(k) plan to supplement Social Security. But Pamela's pension will only be five percent of her current income and there isn’t much in her 401(k). Because the income she expects to receive in retirement won’t be enough to live on, Pamela is worried that she won't ever be able to retire.
These are just two of the stories that put a face on the women who are affected by the nation's staggering $6.6 trillion Retirement Income Deficit [5]. Throughout this week, the "Wake Up, Washington!" Story Bank [6] will highlight the stories of women like Carol and Pamela. Once you have read or watched the stories we've collected, we hope that you will give policymakers in Washington the wake-up call they need by signing our petition [7] urging them to act now to ensure that all working Americans can retire with adequate and secure incomes.