Women often reach retirement age with fewer pension benefits and retirement assets than men. All workers need to save more for retirement, but women face added challenges because they have lower earnings, experience higher job turnover, and have a longer life expectancy. Women generally begin retirement with smaller pensions than their male counterparts but usually live longer than men. Social Security is intended to be a supplemental source of income in retirement, but too many women are forced to rely on it as their sole source support in retirement. As a result of these issues, elderly women in the United States have one of the highest poverty rates of any industrialized nation.
Women Save Less than Men for Retirement
Chief among the reasons that women save less than men is that women earn less than men; lower earnings equal lower retirement savings. The Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963 and yet almost half a century later, women make only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. According to the National Women's Law Center, "This persistent pay gap translates to more than $10,000 in lost wages per year for the average female worker."
