Challenges Women Face in Retirement Security

This book focuses on women and retirement. Women aged 65 and over will account for a growing segment of the U.S. population over the next several decades. Despite increases in women's workforce behaviour in the past 65 years, elderly women have persistently high rates of poverty. Thus, it is important to understand the differences between men's and women's retirement income, and how women may fare given future reforms to Social Security and pensions. Preparing for retirement and achieving financial security are daunting tasks for all Americans to be sure; however, women face many unique challenges. Women still perform the primary caretaker role in our society. As a result, many women spend significant periods of time out of the workforce raising children or taking care of elderly parents, significantly diluting their earning power. Women are also more likely to work part-time or work in industries where employers are less likely to offer retirement benefits. And women generally earn less than men. In 2004, women earned 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. All of these factors have a significant impact on what women receive from Social Security and pension, as well as what they are able to accumulate through personal savings. This income gap is further exacerbated by the fact that women generally live longer than men, and therefore, need to stretch their income over a longer period of time. This book consists of public domain documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.