5 Things Every Woman

Should Know

About Social Security 

For more than 80 years, Social Security has helped secure today and 

tomorrow by providing benefits and financial protection for millions of 

people throughout their life’s journey. Here are the five most important 

things every woman should know about Social Security.

1. Nothing keeps you from getting 

 your own Social Security benefit 

• If you’ve worked and paid taxes into the 

Social Security system for at least 10 

years and have earned a minimum of 

40 work credits, you may be eligible for 

your own benefits. 

• Once you reach age 62, you may be 

eligible for your own Social Security 

benefit whether you’re married or not 

and whether your spouse collects 

Social Security or not. 

• We figure everyone’s retirement 

benefit the same way. It’s based on a 

percentage of your average monthly 

wage using a 35-year base of earnings. 

If you don’t have 35 years of earnings, 

we must substitute “zero” years to 

reach the 35-year base. 

• If you become disabled before your full 

retirement age, you might qualify for 

Social Security disability benefits, if you 

worked and paid Social Security taxes 

in five of the last 10 years. 

• If you also get a pension from a job 

where you didn’t pay Social Security 

taxes (e.g., a civil service or teacher’s 

pension), your Social Security benefit 

might be reduced. 

2. There is no marriage penalty 

 or limit to benefits paid a 

 married couple 

• If you are married and you and your 

spouse have worked and earned 

enough credits individually, you will 

each get your own Social Security 

benefit. 

• A working woman is not limited to onehalf of her spouse’s Social Security. 

(That rate applies to women who never 

worked outside the home.) 

• So, for example, if you are due a 

Social Security benefit of $1,200 per 

month and your spouse is due a Social 

Security benefit of $1,400 per month, 

the two of you will get $2,600 per month 

in retirement benefits.

SocialSecurity.gov (over)

5 Things Every Woman Should Know About Social Security 
3. If you’re due two benefits, you

get the one that pays the higher

rate, not both

• As a spouse, you are potentially eligible

for benefits on both your own and your

spouse’s work record, but you only

receive the one that pays the higher

rate, not both.

• A wife is eligible for between one-third

and one-half of her spouse’s Social

Security benefit, if she does not have

her own work record.

• Most working women who reach

retirement age receive their own Social

Security benefit amount because it’s

more than one-third to one-half of their

spouse’s rate.

• If your spouse dies before you, you can

apply for the higher widow’s rate. (See

number 5 below.)

4. If you’re divorced and were

married at least 10 years,

you’re eligible on your ex’s

Social Security record

• Divorced women who were married at

least 10 years are eligible for Social

Security based on their ex’s record, if

they are unmarried when they become

eligible for Social Security.

• Some women sign divorce decrees

relinquishing their rights to Social

Security on their ex’s record. Those

clauses in divorce decrees are never

enforced.

• Any benefits paid to a divorced spouse

DO NOT reduce payments made to

the ex or any payments due the ex’s

current spouse.

• Generally, the same payment rules

apply to divorced wives and widows

as to current wives and widows. That

means most divorced women collect

their own Social Security while the ex

is alive, but they can apply for higher

widow’s rates when they die.

5. When your spouse (or ex)

dies, you’re probably due a

widow’s benefit

• A widow is eligible for between 71

percent (at age 60) and 100 percent (at

full retirement age) of what the spouse

was getting before they died.

• We must pay your own retirement

benefit first, then supplement it with

whatever extra benefits you are due as

a widow, to bring your Social Security

benefit amount up to the widow’s rate.

• We also can pay you a $255 one-time

death benefit if you were living with your

spouse when they died.

• If you made more money than your

spouse, then they might be due a

survivors benefit rate on your record, if

you die before they do. 

Learn more by reading our publication

What Every Woman Should Know at 

www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/EN-05-10127.pdf.

SocialSecurity.gov

SocialSecurity.gov

Social Security Administration | Publication No. 05-10044 | September 2016

5 Things Every Woman Should Know About Social Security

Produced and published at U.S. taxpayer expense