For women who spend their careers taking care of their families, Social Security provides spouse's benefits. For older women whose husbands die, Social Security provides survivors' benefits equal to 100 percent of their husbands' benefits. If children are getting survivors' benefits, younger widows who stay home to care for them also receive benefits. Social Security pays monthly benefits for life, which is particularly valuable to women who on average live longer than men. Social Security adjusts benefits annually for changes in the cost of living.
Inflation protection matters more for women than for men because women live longer after retirement.
Moving toward a system of individual accounts would endanger these protections. A woman's overall retirement benefit would depend, at least in part, on her contributions into her personal account and the earnings on those contributions. Low earnings and less time in the labor force would produce low contributions and low retirement benefits. Many of the family benefits currently provided by Social Security would likely be cut back. This risk is compounded by the absence of inflation protection.