Policy makers need to foster women’s financial security by collaborating with employers and individuals “to tackle deeply rooted issues and modernize our retirement system for current and future generations,” she said in a statement.
Social Security and Medicare need to be reformed to ensure the programs are stable. In addition, policy makers need to expand access to workplace retirement plans, increase incentives for employers to offer retirement plans and encourage women to save for retirement, the study said. Employers need to ensure gender pay equity; expand and healthcare and welfare benefits to more workers; and offer flexible work schedules that allow employees to balance the other demands in their lives, the study said.
“Women’s ability to achieve a secure retirement ultimately depends on equitable pay throughout their working years; access to retirement, and health and welfare benefits; and the preservation of safety nets such as Social Security and Medicare,” Collinson said. “As we emerge from the pandemic, we have an unprecedented opportunity to bridge gender inequalities during a woman’s working years and her retirement.”
The study showed women workers have saved a median of $43,000 in all household retirement accounts.
Thirty-seven percent experienced one or more negative impacts to their employment as a result of the pandemic, including reduced work hours, reduced salaries, furloughs and layoffs. “Many women became stretched beyond their limits, juggling paid employment with home schooling and caregiving for aging loved ones. As these unpaid family responsibilities increased during the pandemic, many women also experienced employment setbacks. Some women gave up their employment and dropped out of the workforce altogether,” the report said.