“What we’re trying to do is mobilize women of all ages, not just older women, to advocate for income equality, retirement security and health protections equal to our male counterparts,” said Brenda Sulick, director of the Eleanor’s Hope project at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. “About 48 percent of elderly unmarried women rely on Social Security for about 90 percent of their total income in retirement.”

“Women tend to live longer than men. That means they’re more likely to outlive their resources. … They tend to make less than men for the same jobs, and that carries with you to retirement. By the time you retire, you have a smaller pension, if you even have one, and you also have a smaller Social Security retirement benefit.”

She added, “And the outcome is, older women are more likely to be in poverty than older men.”

On the gap in pay equality faced by women, Sulick said, “To me, this idea that we’re not paid the same amount of money for the same work is just completely absurd that we’re still talking about this so many years later.”

Also in this episode, Sulick responds to criticisms that protecting Social Security will make our nation more insolvent, reflects on childhood experiences that led her to work in the field of aging and examines how mentors have helped her career in unexpected ways.

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