• In 1991, women represented 63 percent of all persons 18 and over who lived below the poverty level.

• The average age of widowhood in the United States is 56. Eighty percent of widows now living in poverty weren't poor when their husbands were alive.

• The national poverty rate for women 65 and older is almost twice that of men. In 1992 the median annual income for all widows 65 and older was $9,281.

• The likelihood of poverty increases with age, especially for women of color.

• In 1996, the average monthly Social Security check for a widow was $680.

• The gap between Social Security benefits for women and men is slowly narrowing, but the difference between pension benefits is increasing rapidly.

• Among new pension recipients in 1994, median annual benefits were $9,600 for men and $4,800 for women.

Life changes/expectancy

• Women live longer than men, so they may outlive their savings. The average life expectancy at 60 years of age for women is 83 and for men, 78. By 2050, five percent of the baby-boomer population will be more than 100.

• Women tend to have more chronic health problems than men, resulting in higher health care costs during retirement.

• More women in their thirties, forties, and fifties are caring for aging parents. This number will continue to rise as the population ages. More adult children (single and with children) are moving back home with parents as they find they cannot make it financially on their own.

• Immediately following divorce, women 50 and older experience a 39 percent decline in income, whereas men's incomes decline only 14 percent. One year after divorce, 40 percent of men have regained their pre-divorce incomes. Only 21 percent of women have.

Earning power

• Women earn less money than men. They are usually in lower-paying professional, skilled, or unskilled jobs, so their Social Security earnings and pensions are lower.

• Full-time women workers, as a group, earned 83 percent of what men did in 1994. In 1994, the median income for women 25 to 34 was $20,644. It was $24,908 for men.

• In 1991, median earnings for full-time employed female high school graduates (with no college) were less than fully employed men who were high school dropouts.

• Baby boomers have had more competition for jobs, have experienced downsizing, and have not experienced the growing prosperity that their parents enjoyed.

• Women change jobs more often than men, so they may not stay at a job long enough to be vested in (qualified for) retirement plans. Women average 4.8 years with each employer, and it usually takes at least five years to be vested.

• A woman who takes seven years out of her 40-year career to start a family will get half the retirement benefits of someone who stayed in the work force for 40 years.

• Women who do receive retirement benefits usually receive significantly lower benefits than men. Nearly two-thirds of retired women receive more Social Security benefits based on their husband's earning record than on their own.

• Women tend to work for smaller companies where no pension plan is provided.

• Only nine percent of women currently over 40 receive or expect to receive pension benefits.

• Women who work less than 1,000 hours a year (less than 20 hours per week) may not qualify for company retirement benefits.

• Because women are more likely to leave the job market to provide care when family situations require it, they average 11.5 years out of the work force, compared to 1.3 years for men. When their earning record is interrupted, they lose vesting opportunities and have fewer years in which to contribute to retirement plans.

• Women often lose their benefits if they leave a position when their husbands relocate.