What’s at Stake Today

Social Security provides most of the income for women 65 and older—and its benefits are stable and can’t be outlived. Its disability and life insurance benefits are especially important to women of color and their families. Social Security benefits are vital but modest, averaging $13,500 per year for older women. They need to be protected and enhanced, not cut.

What Is NWLC Doing?

We work with lawmakers to develop and advance proposals that will strengthen Social Security for generations to come and increase benefits to improve women’s retirement security.

But some lawmakers are proposing cuts to already modest benefits. Whether they’re talking about privatization plans that would replace secure benefits with risky private accounts, decreasing the Cost of Living Adjustment in ways that would hit older women especially hard, or increasing the retirement age yet again, it all adds up to cuts to women’s benefits. So we’re making it clear that women can’t afford cuts to Social Security.

With more women in the workforce, women now rely on Social Security Disability Insurance at nearly the same rate as men. We’re urging lawmakers to take the simple steps needed to prevent cuts to Disability Insurance benefits.