April 28--If not for Social Security, more than
half of all women receiving
these benefits would be living below the poverty level, warned a
representative of the Older
Women's League (OWL).
Speaking at an April 25 briefing for United Methodist Women from
around the country, Kathryn
Stern Ceja, a senior development associate at OWL, urged women to
evaluate carefully the
proposals for changes in the program.
"Women in the Social Security program are not a special
interest group," she said. "They are a
majority. Sixty percent of all Social Security recipients at age
65 are women, and that figure
increases to 72 percent by the age of 85."
On the average women receive 25 percent less in Social Security
payments that men do because
most women have held lower paying joys in service and clerical
field and because most women
have taken an average of 11.5 years out of the workplace to be
primary care givers, according
to a General Accounting Office report used in testimony before
the House of Representatives
Feb. 3, 1998.
"We need Social Security more," Ceja said. "For
many of us, it's our sole source of income"
because many women do not receive pensions. "We have less
money. We live longer. And our
return is smaller."
She asserted that the current Social Security system has
benefited women by providing life-time
benefits with cost-of-living increases. Supplemental payments
provide assistance for those with
lower earnings. It protects women workers if they become
disabled. Older widows or widows
with young children receive benefits if their partner was a
participant in the system.
Ceja predicted that privatization of the Social Security system
would send women into poverty.
She said women have much smaller savings than men. Individual
accounts would not be indexed
to inflation as Social Security payments are now, and they would
be dependent on volatile
investment markets.
"How long are we going to see this boom in the stock
market?" she asked.
Edie Rasell, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute,
said that even if Social Security
reform is not enacted, the current system is not in crisis.
The 75-year projection that Social Security trustees are required
to publish indicates that annual
income will exceed payments until 2022, when the government will
need to start cashing treasury
bonds set aside for that purpose, she said. In 2034, all treasury
bonds will have been spent and
tax revenues will cover 72 percent of benefits. By 2075, income
is expected to cover 67 percent
of benefits.
"This is a sign of a very strong program," Rasell said.
"It just needs some fine tuning to ensure we
get 100 percent of the benefits."
She suggested that the government avoid privatization and any
benefit cuts. Instead, taxing all
earnings, not just those below $72,600, would eliminate
three-quarters of the funding shortfall
and make the payroll tax fairer, she said. To eliminate the
remaining shortfall, Rasell proposed
using 25 percent of the federal budget surplus each of the next
15 years.
United Methodist Women, an organization of 1 million women within
the United Methodist
Church, fosters spiritual growth, develops leaders and advocates
for social justice. Members
raise more than $20 million dollars a year for programs and
projects related to women, children
and youth in the United States and more than 100 countries around
the world.