Murray Report: Women Face Systemic Barriers that Contribute to Large Gender Retirement Gap

In the report, Murray outlines several policy solutions that would help women better prepare for retirement 

Murray: “The retirement crisis is especially acute for women”

(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee released a new report detailing the unique challenges women face in accessing a secure retirement. The report details how women often struggle with financial hardship in retirement more than men, and among women 65 and older, the poverty rate is nearly double that of men in the same age group. Murray highlighted policy solutions to overcome these barriers, including closing the pay gap and raising the minimum wage to address inequalities women face during their working years, improving access to retirement savings plans, and strengthening, expanding, and modernizing Social Security.

“Women face systemic barriers that hinder their ability to access a secure retirement, barriers that begin long before they reach the retirement age,” Senator Murray writes in the report. “After a lifetime of hard work, all seniors deserve the opportunity to live healthy, full, and financially secure lives. Ensuring women are able to access a secure retirement is part of my ongoing work to help the economy grow from the middle out, not the top down, and ensuring our government works for everyone, not just the wealthiest few.”

Read the report HERE.

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