In a first of its kind event in the D.C. metro area earlier this week, panelists discussed the obstacles to economic security faced by older women in the community. The community dialogue, held at Nixon Peabody LLP, was co-hosted by Washington Area Women’s Foundation and Legal Counsel for the Elderly. It is one discussion in a series that The Women’s Foundation is holding to talk about the findings of the recent report 2010 Portrait of Women & Girls in the Washington Metropolitan Area (Portrait Project 2010). The report takes a comprehensive look at the lives of women and girls in the Washington region.
Portrait Project 2010 found that:
- Older women in our region are slightly more likely to be poor (8.7 percent) versus women overall.
- Women in the oldest age groups have even higher poverty rates, with 12 percent of women aged 75 to 84 being poor.
- Social Security is the only source of income for almost 30 percent of women aged 75 and older and women’s median Social Security benefit was just $10,575 in 2008 (the most recent year data was available before the report was published). That’s about $4,000 lower than men’s Social Security benefits.
- Between 2000-2008, the population of women over 65 grew by 18 percent in the region, compared to 5 percent growth in the population of all women
“55 is the speed limit, not the age limit,” said David Gamse of the Jewish Council for the Aging. “Older women face discrimination in housing, credit and especially employment.”
Sylvia Snowden, a client of Legal Counsel for the Elderly, said that Social Security benefits and owning her own home are the only things that have kept her from being homeless.
“Because we’ve become old and gray we are not utilized,” she said. “We are discarded.”
“I worked for 30 years and raised three children but I always had low-paying jobs,” Faye Schimmel, another panelist, said. “Without being able to draw on my husband’s Social Security, I’d have hundreds of dollars less each month.”
Daniela de la Piedra of Legal Counsel for the Elderly explained that many older women receive fewer Social Security benefits than men because they were often paid less during their working years.
Panelists also stressed the need for companies to understand the value in hiring older employees, a clearer explanation of public programs and policies, and more older women advocating on their own behalf.
2010 Portrait of Women & Girls in the Washington Metropolitan Area is available online.
