Joining with other leaders of the National Council of Women's Organizations, Feminist Majority President Eleanor Smeal called upon the Clinton Administration and Congress to move women and women's issues to the center stage of the social security debate. Women cannot be a side issue in the social security debate. Women are the main issue. Our concerns must be at center stage. The majority of social security recipients are women.
Social security is the major source of retirement income for the majority of women.
In addition to women's advocates being at the table, Smeal urged the consideration of improvements to the social security system which would strengthen the system for women and eliminate inequities. As absolutely crucial as the social security system is to women's economic security, the system is based on demographics of marriage and work patterns which have changed. As a result, there is a substantial benefit gap between male and female social security recipients. Women are penalized for their traditional care-taking roles. For example, leaving the labor force to provide care to children or elderly parents dramatically lowers women's lifetime average earnings and, in turn, their social security benefit payouts.