Exam 10: Social Work and Services for Older Adults

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An ongoing criticism of Social Security is that it discriminates against women.When a woman turns age 66, she is eligible to receive benefits equal to one-half of the benefits her husband receives.This is true whether she has ever worked outside the home or not.However, if she has worked outside the home, she may choose to take her own benefits instead.She cannot receive both.How is this discriminatory? First, women who have been homemakers their entire lives are entitled to only half of what their husbands receive.Does this imply that their share of the marital partnership is worth only half of the husbands'? The system provides them with no way of making contributions based on their own labor within the home.Many women work outside the home for years, build up their own benefits, but end up taking half of their husbands' anyway.Why? The husbands' benefits are worth more than twice as much as theirs, so they're better off taking half of the husbands'.It is established that men tend to enter higher-paid professions, earn significantly more than women in the same professions, and spend less time out of the workforce raising children and caring for a home.Thus, women's contributions, as structured by the current system, are often significantly less than their husbands'.