By Mac Daniel
More than half of women age 65 or older and living alone are economically insecure, according to a new report from the Gerontology Institute at UMass Boston.
It’s an issue we continue to confront today in its many forms: most women spend their working lives behind a cruel economic curve. And it’s especially true for older women, who were typically paid less than men while providing family care that reduced employment opportunities.
The economic status of these women doesn’t improve in later life. Lower Social Security and pension benefits, the result of working and earning less over decades, is one contributing factor. In addition, women are more likely to live longer than men, extending this gender disadvantage into older age and often making it worse.
A new report from the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston uses the Elder Index™ to show the depth and scope of economic disadvantage experienced by older women living alone across the United States.
“Life-long patterns of inequality in work experiences and wealth accumulation are behind a substantial gender disparity in retirement economic security,” said Jan Mutchler, the report’s lead author and a professor of gerontology at UMass Boston. “The consequences of that disparity affect so many older women who routinely face hard choices about basic expenses they simply can’t afford.”
Mutchler, along with co-authors Nidya Velasco Roldan and Yang Li, found that 54% of women age 65 or older and living alone were economically insecure, meaning they did not have enough income to afford their local cost of living without assistance. The study determined that 45% of older single men had insufficient income to afford the same no-frills budget covering housing, healthcare, food, transportation, and other items.
South Dakota recorded the largest gap at 15 percentage points, followed by Utah (14 percentage points) and Alaska (13 percentage points). Washington, D.C., had the smallest gender gap at three percentage points.
Across the country, the gender disparity in elder economic security also appeared consistently among different racial and ethnic groups. Women faced similarly higher rates of insecurity than men among white, Black, Hispanic or Latino and Asian older adults.
The study also found that measures to permanently fix this disparity are best addressed with the present-day workforce.
“Clearly, the gender disparity in elder economic security is present everywhere in America,” said Mutchler. “No single policy or action can address that. But better access to affordable childcare and eldercare, as well as continued progress in gender income equity, can make a difference for older women in the future.”
For more information, visit the Gerontology Institute Blog.