The poverty rate among unmarried women over 50 is nearly three times higher than the rate for divorced men over 50, according to a recent study.
To explain the discrepancy, researchers pointed to Social Security laws. When the Social Security Act was passed in the 1930s, most eligible persons were married, and so women who had been absent from the workforce for a number of years could rely on a spouse's Social Security benefit. But as the divorce rate in this age bracket has increased significantly in recent years, that reliance is no longer possible in many cases.
In 1980, one in five midlife adults were unmarried; today, that proportion is one in three.
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