This type of pension allows employers to contribute a percentage of the employee s salary to a defined contribution plan without administrative expenses or filing requirements. They therefore provide a viable alternative to more complicated pension plans. Women working for small firms would especially benefit from the adoption of such plans by their employers. Enact pay equity legislation. Raising women s wages would have an indirect, and important, impact on women s pension coverage and income.
Research consistently shows that pension coverage and income are associated with higher wages.
Hence, enactment of pay equity legislation would go a long way toward increasing women s retirement security. Voluntary individual pension accounts should have the same spousal protections as defined benefit plans. Under current regulation, divorced women have more pension protection than married women. Modify join and survivor annuities. Even though the Retirement Equity Act of 1984 required private pensions to pay survivor benefits unless a spouse waives this protection in writing, the widow typically receives only about two-fifths the amount received while her spouse was alive.