Women earn only 70 cents to every dollar men earn for similar work. Women tend to be out of the workforce more often, and to hold part-time jobs, particularly during childbearing years. This results in lower Social Security benefits for women than men. Privatization only exacerbates the pension disparity. On average, men's pension funds are twice the size of women's pension funds .
Women also make more conservative investments when they invest their retirement savings themselves.
Women, ages 51 to 61, invest a lower percentage of their total assets in stocks, mutual funds, and investment trusts than men had. These assets are riskier, but have higher yields than others, such as certificates of deposits, savings accounts, or government bonds. On average, the ratio of riskier assets to total assets held by men was 8 percentage points higher than the same ratio for women. With very conservative investments, the investment return may not be adequate to see many women through their retirement years. A completely privatized system cannot offer these additional forms of protection needed by minorities, women and the disabled.