AAUW Dialog

Conversations about poverty often revolve around comparing and contrasting people on either side of a government-established income level, trying to process exactly what causes poverty and how to improve the outcomes for those who are struggling. What assistance is most effective and how do we truly improve the lives of so many? I can’t help but think it’s a very slippery slope between the poverty line and over the edge.

If we really want to improve lives (more than 70.2 million to be precise) pay equity would be my antipoverty campaign of choice. Over their entire lifespan, one gender ends up closer to that line than another, and we know why.

Women who work full time earn about 78 cents for every dollar men earn. Sinc 1960, because of the wage gap, the real median earnings of women have fallen short by more than half a million dollars compared to men. That’s a very substantial shortfall and represents so many women who continue to fall steps behind men in terms of economic success. I was reading something recently that the pay inequity shortfall in women’s earnings is about $210,000 over a 35-year working life.

That’s huge!

When you think about it, such a shortfall completely affects women’s ability to save not only for retirement but also for other lifetime goals such as buying a home and paying for a college education. These are the goals that help keep individuals and families out of poverty: a good education, an investment in assets, and the ability to save for the future. What are we supposed to do knowing that we start a few hundred thousand dollars behind? It’s a frustrating reality.

Unfortunately, the story continues for many women after their working life is over. So many women rely on Social Security for all their income (about 23 percent of women over age 65 and about 30 percent of all unmarried elderly women). In terms more relevant to the conversation today, more than two-thirds of unmarried women would be living below the poverty line if they did not receive Social Security. That’s just how close the edge is.

I know there are lots of things we can do. In addition to reaching out and helping those who are truly in need, there are concrete ways that we can work to erase pay discrimination, make those lifetime goals realities for so many women, and ensure that Social Security simply supplements a lifetime of saving for retirement. Learn more about how AAUW is advocating for these issues and breaking through educational and economic barriers for women and girls.