As Jasmine explained last week, elderly women—especially those living alone and women of color—are some of the most vulnerable members of our society. That’s why retirement security [1] is a longstanding priority for the National Women’s Law Center, and why we’re proud to be part of the Retirement USA coalition [2]. This week, the Retirement USA coalition is focusing on women’s retirement income deficit [3] because women face special challenges in achieving a secure retirement.
Women nearing retirement have spent more time in the workforce and earned more than previous generations of women. But women in general still earn less than men [4]; they are more likely to work part-time; and they are more likely to take time out of the workforce at some point during their careers for unpaid caregiving. As a result, women have a particularly difficult time saving enough to compensate for their longer life spans and time in retirement living without a spouse. How difficult? Nearly half of women workers lack access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan, and only 40 percent of women workers actually participate in such plans. In 2008, the median annual income from pensions and annuities for women age 65 and older was 40 percent lower than that received by men ($8,040 versus $13,200). Only 23 percent of older women, compared to 42 percent of older men, reported defined benefit pension income from their own former employer in 2006. And in 2004, the typical female worker near retirement with a defined contribution plan or individual retirement account held $34,000 in her retirement accounts, less than half of the assets held by her male counterpart ($70,000).
The recession has widened the retirement security gap. That’s why it’s important to take action: we need to protect and improve Social Security [5], which provides secure, inflation-adjusted, lifelong benefits that are critical to older women; and we need to ensure that our retirement system allows all working Americans to retire with adequate and secure incomes. Share your story, speak up: let’s wake up Washington [2].
This blog entry was written by Amy Matsui of the National Women's Law Center [6] and is cross-posted from the National Women's Law Center's Womenstake blog. [7]