As the Bush Commission on Social Security met behind closed doors at a Washington D.C. hotel Wednesday, in another room in the same hotel, a coalition of organizations of seniors, women, minorities, labor, and people with disabilities held a press conference to express their opposition to privatizing Social Security.
Addressing the impact of privatization on women, NOW President Kim Gandy said “. . . . women can least afford to undercut a guaranteed lifetime benefit by gambling with it on Wall Street. Women are disadvantaged by the current system, and we need to look at making the system more fair, not putting it at risk.”
Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority, a longtime advocate for the elimination of sex discrimination in Social Security, said today, “It is ironic that the Bush Commission is using sex discrimination to argue for privatization when this change would not only be detrimental to women, but it would undermine the entire system. If the Bush Commission is truly concerned about social security benefits for women, they need to eliminate the sex discrimination in Social Security that deprives women of their legitimate benefits.”
