Such costly suggestions put Bush on the defensive, since he's juggling calls for more dough to address the potential insolvency while handing out big tax cuts. There's a concern that the system could get reformed in a way that hurts women,'' says Heidi Hartmann, director of the Institute for Women's Policy Research. Certainly, the way Social Security stands now isn't fair to women. Each year out of the workforce spent caring for kids or an ailing parent counts as zero in calculating benefits. Women's lower pay is another factor.
Women are also less likely to stay in a job long enough to get a pension.
A woman is more dependent on Social Security for a larger portion of her retirement income,'' says Deborah Briceland-Betts, executive director of the Older Women's League. Divorced women, too, often lose out. Otherwise, a divorcee's benefit is based on her own earnings, which are often less. The flood of boomer women into the labor force in recent decades doesn't offset this. True, many middle-aged women today have careers that will let them retire comfortably.