Together, We Can #RetireInequality

On this day when we celebrate the achievements of women globally, I hope you will join me in an important movement to end an economic injustice affecting millions of women and their families.

At a time when women have broken down barriers and accomplished so much in higher education, healthcare and other professions, they continue to end their careers with 30 percent less retirement income than men.[1]

It starts with lower paychecks -- 82 cents on the dollar compared to men.[2] The unpaid toll of raising children and caring for elderly family members widens the gap. And the pandemic has worsened the situation, with nearly two million women dropping out of the workforce, with never expecting to make up for the lost earnings and savings. On top of this, women retire two years earlier than men on average, but live about five years longer.[3]

All of these inequities add up to an even larger one in retirement. We at TIAA are here to close this retirement income gap for women for good, with a new awareness campaign that we call #RetireInequality. We’re doing it on the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark U.S. legislation that prohibits gender discrimination in educational institutions and activities.

In the past half-century, millions of women got their shot thanks to Title IX. The confidence I developed as a student athlete made a huge difference in my life. But I have also seen my family struggle with the retirement income gap. And my experience is a common one: We’ve partnered with influential college basketball and WNBA players and coaches who are sharing their own stories of why the fight to retire inequality matters, and why we have to press on until it’s won.

TIAA is also donating $1.5 million to The Equity Project?, an initiative backed by the Women’s Sports Foundation to improve women’s representation in sports. And we’re marking this moment with a symbol designed to represent the passion, power and pride in standing with millions of women fighting to be the change.

We can – and we will – accelerate our progress toward closing the retirement income gap. But it’s going to take all of us working together so that we can:

• Ensure women have access to good retirement plans.
• Raise awareness and a sense of urgency among women so that they contribute enough to those plans and make choices that will empower them to create lifetime income.
• Urge lawmakers and policy makers to help make access to lifetime income easier for everyone.

?At TIAA, lifetime income is our mission. Closing the retirement income gap for women is critical to this mission, and I hope everyone who cares about pay equity will take their shot at righting this wrong.

?Working together as a team, we can #RetireInequality for everyone.

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[1] The Mercer 2021 Global Pension Index estimates a 33.7% pension gap for women in the US – that is women have 33.7% less pension income than men. Global Pension Index Report, 2021. https://www.mercer.com/our-thinking/global-pension-index-2021.html ?

[2] Women earn roughly 82 cents for every $1 men earn on average. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey, 2021. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ?

[3] Women retire approximately two years earlier than men and live roughly 5 years longer. Living Longer: Historical and Projected Life Expectancy in the U.S., 1960 to 2060, 2020. https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/demo/p25-1145.pdf ?