The
pattern for too many women is poorly paid work followed by poorly paid
retirement.
Poverty
rates are highest among women: almost three quarters of pensioners on
Income Support are women, and elderly widows are especially poor.
Many
older working women will receive poor pensions:
About
1.5 million women in their 40s and 50s have paid National Insurance at the special rate for
married women. Many are nearing retirement
and discovering
with a shock that they will receive pensions
as low as 1p per
week.
SWAPP
is currently campaigning on this issue. Click
here for more information.
Will
the pattern be repeated for younger women?
Women
in their 20s and 30s could face similar patterns of poverty in old age
as their mothers and grandmothers. Government plans to increase the role
of private provision and cut back on universal state pensions could
leave many women vulnerable, since only one woman in three currently has
any form of private pension provision.
