http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=45017Cite Gross Hypocrisy of Party Claiming Mantle of Family Values
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A divide and conquer strategy targeting women is being waged by Congressional supporters of President Bush's proposal to privatize Social Security. In a briefing paper distributed to Republican lawmakers for use during the Easter Recess, Representatives were advised to draw attention to the Social Security benefits earned by married women who work in the paid labor force versus married women who stay at home, including those who raise children and care for elderly parents. The document was issued by the House Republican Conference on March 18th, and was drafted by a pro-privatization front group based in Boulder, Colorado.
"This attack on the spousal benefits under Social Security is a telling example of how little privatizers value the unpaid caregiving work that millions of women provide for this society," said Kim Gandy, President of the National Organization for Women and Co-Chair of NCWO's Women and Social Security Task Force.
As a gender-neutral program, Social Security benefits are based on an individual's work record or the work record of his or her spouse, whichever is higher. Not surprisingly, most married women receive higher benefits based on their husband's earnings history than on their own-because of time out of the workforce for family caregiving and because of lower lifetime earnings due to continued disparities between the wages of men and women.
"Even today, the typical woman, over her life-time, earns little more than one-third of the typical man's life-time earnings," explained Heidi Hartmann, head of the Institute for Women's Policy Research and Co-Chair of NCWO's Women and Social Security Task Force. "Spousal benefits are designed to compensate women for their time spent raising children and caring for other family members," said Hartmann.
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