It is generally accepted that the Social Security program pays women a higher average ratio of lifetime benefits to … lifetime taxes than it does men. Social Security's progressive benefit structure and annuity payment combine with women's lower … average earnings and longer average life spans to provide women with more favorable treatment on a lifetime basis. This more …

marriage. And this risk disproportionately affects older women, who are nearly three times as likely as older men to be widowed … successful in protecting single older people from poverty, especially single older women, than government-administered social … following the death of a spouse, which we argue would substantially reduce the risk of poverty faced by older women …

This policy brief is designed to raise awareness of the current and future economic circumstances of older women, and … the long-run financial deficit, but it will also greatly reduce the future poverty status of older women, particularly …, but not divorced; where fathers worked in industrial settings; and where both men and women had much shorter life …