The Women’s Pension Project of the Pension Rights Center seeks to prevent poverty among older women by working for fairer pension policies. The Project is currently focused on eliminating inequities affecting women in the nation’s pension programs, particularly those affecting widowed and divorced homemakers. These women are particularly vulnerable to unfair pension policies since without pensions to supplement their Social Security payments they are likely to retire to poverty. Older women living alone are the poorest adult group in the nation.
The Project spearheaded the creation of a Women's Pension Coalition that is currently working on legislative measures that would benefit women whose former husbands worked under the Civil Service Retirement System, the Railroad Retirement System, and the private pension system. A number of these provisions were passed with the Pension Protection Act of 2006.
In addition to legislative reforms, the Project has also commented on proposed government regulations and publishes books, fact sheets, and pamphlets. The project’s widely-acclaimed book Your Pension Rights at Divorce: What Women Need to Know,has recently been updated. Key chapters can be downloaded in PDF form.
The Women’s Pension Project has a long history of successful advocacy. Four federal pension reform laws benefiting millions of homemakers and working women are traceable directly to Project activities. The Project has also operated a Clearinghouse on Pensions and Divorce, created a Women’s Pension Policy Consortium, and provided help to thousands of women who had nowhere else to turn for help with their pension problems.
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