Washington, DC – The National Women’s Law Center released a comprehensive fact sheet outlining the importance of Social Security for women, who make up more than half (55%) of the program’s beneficiaries over age 62.

Using the most recent available data, the analysis reflected in the fact sheet underscores what a lifeline Social Security is for older women. The need is especially acute for single older women, who are nearly twice as likely as married women to live in poverty (21% compared to 10.9%).

Despite their greater need, women also receive significantly lower Social Security benefits on average than men — $1,808 per month compared to $2,215 for men, a gap of $327 each month.

The report comes as the Trump administration is threatening Social Security benefits through staffing cuts and operational changes that have caused call wait times to soar far beyond what the agency publicly claims. Delays and disruptions to benefits disproportionately harm older women, and especially older women of color, who have lower lifetime earnings and higher poverty rates, and therefore rely on Social Security in retirement.

Read the report: Social Security Is Vital to Older Women’s Financial Security 

“Because of systemic inequalities, older women are far more likely than men to rely on Social Security to meet their basic needs,” said Courtney Anderson, social insurance legal fellow at the National Women’s Law Center. “They can’t afford the delays and disruptions that the Trump administration’s reckless actions threaten. Policymakers must strengthen and expand—not weaken and cut—Social Security to ensure that millions of people, especially women and people of color, can age with dignity.”

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