Dated Pension Plans Hurt Single Women, Report Says

Outdated pension policies mean unmarried and widowed women who retire 30 years from now are much more likely to live in poverty than either married counterparts or men, a report released today claims.

The report, issued by the Older Women’s League, blamed a Social Security system and private pension plans that it said benefit male work patterns and favor the “traditional family.” OWL said less than 10% of American families today fit the traditional profile of a working father, homemaker mother and two children.

“Gender bias and lower women’s wages will translate into significantly lower retirement benefits (for women) tomorrow,” said Lou Glasse, president of the Washington-based advocacy group. “To date, America’s Social Security and pension systems have utterly failed to keep pace with changing work patterns and family responsibilities.”

The Older Women’s League released the report to coincide with Mother’s Day this Sunday.

“For men, we’ve created retirement plans and profit sharing. For women, we’ve created Mother’s Day,” Glasse said in a statement that prefaced the 12-page report.

OWL claimed that for most women, “decades of Social Security contributions will translate into virtually the same retirement benefits as those paid to their mothers, who may never have earned wages or paid Social Security taxes.”

Glasse said women 30 years away from retirement are “already in jeopardy.”

The report said the 55-year-old Social Security system and even private pension plans penalize women, who typically live longer than men but earn less money. The OWL said 70% of “baby-boom” women will outlive their husbands by about 15 years but, on average, will earn about two-thirds the pay for men their age.

In addition, the report said, those women who leave the work force to rear children or care for disabled family members will probably be poor after retirement if they don’t have husbands.

“Pension eligibility has generally required long-term, continuous full-time service with one employer--a bad fit for women,” Glasse said.