Social Security benefits inherently disadvantage women, operationalizing dependence on males which reify lives of poverty for elderly woman.

In the alternative situation where the woman dies first, the benefit computation is much simpler: her (assumed to be smaller) benefit simply terminates because she is dead, and the man’s benefit continues unchanged. He cannot receive a benefit as a widower because his own benefit as a worker is larger. Thus, no matter which member of the couple dies first, the larger monthly benefit continues to be paid, while the smaller benefit terminates. The situation is worse for unmarried couples. When one dies, that person’s benefit terminates due to death, but the other member of the couple cannot qualify for a benefit as a surviving spouse. The reduction at the first death is therefore greater, in most cases, especially if the man had the larger benefit and he dies first, as is the usual case. So, how does all that lead to a difference in outcomes for men versus women? Two people living together in one home, married or not, obviously can live more cheaply than they could live apart in two separate homes. Because men have higher mortality rates than women, combined with the fact that the average American husband (or unmarried partner) is 2 to 3 years older than his wife, most women who are part of a couple can anticipate some period living alone. The average time that a formerly partnered woman might expect to live alone is about 9 years. During this time, her standard of living can be expected to drop, due to the absence of the partner— and his retirement income, whatever that might have been—and the fact that she is older and likely has higher health care expenses and fewer assets than the couple had when they were younger and both were alive. Of course, men are also exposed to the risk of a partner dying first and being left alone with higher expenses and fewer assets. But actual experience shows that women are far more likely than men to suffer the consequences of a partner dying first. Most elderly people living in poverty are women. That’s due to several effects, many of which combine: (1) women tend to have lower average earnings than men and consequently lower Social Security benefits, (2) women tend to have less consistent lifetime earnings than men and consequently lower Social Security benefits, and (3) women have a high probability of outliving a male partner and being left alone at an advanced age, with higher per capita expenses and fewer assets than she had when her partner was alive. None of these reasons result from problems that Social Security can effectively solve.