It would be very simple to develop a personal retirement account plan that includes a safety net with the same guaranteed level of retirement benefits that today's Social Security promises. The difference would be that a reformed plan includes the assets to meet its obligations. Women could earn more for retirement with a personal retirement account. Half of her investments would be in super-safe government bonds and half in stock index funds. Women have average lower lifetime earnings because of pay-inequity and time out of the workforce to care for family.
Women are less likely to have pensions when they retire.
Social Security IS very important to women. Maintaining the current system would do little to help them, and in fact, do more to stifle any creation of individual or family wealth. In most cases, women receive little benefit from their husband's Social Security after his death. Social Security only pays survivors benefits if there are children under the age of 18, or if the widow receives lower benefits than her husband does. Both Sue and her husband Ned taught school for many years.