For every dollar men earn, women earn 74 cents, which translates into lower Social Security benefits. Women are half as likely than men to receive a pension. Twenty percent of women versus 47 percent of men over age 65 receive pensions. Women do not spend as much time in the workforce as men. Women spend more time out of the paid work force than do men in order to raise families and take care of aging parents.
Women live longer than men by an average of seven years.
Social Security benefits are the only source of income for many elderly women. Not only will these women find themselves widowed, they are likely to be poor. The financial outlook for elderly women is pretty grim. The poverty rate among elderly women would be much higher if they did not have Social Security benefits. In 1997, the poverty rate among elderly women was 13.1 percent.