SOCIAL SECURITY DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN

WHEREAS, the current Social Security laws established in 1935, reflect traditional roles of lifelong homemaker and lifelong paid worker provider; and

WHEREAS, the current Social Security laws discriminate against wives employed outside the home, wherein working wives contribute social security taxes toward retirement protection which largely duplicates the protection they may receive as dependents based on their husband's earnings; and

WHEREAS, benefits can be lower for two-earner couples than for one-earner couples with the same average lifetime earnings; and

WHEREAS, benefits may be lower for surviving spouses of two-earner couples than for surviving spouses of one-earner couples with the same average lifetime earnings credits:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers support and lobby for a change in the Social Security benefit system wherein 50 percent of the total annual earnings of the couples would be credited to each individual's earnings record. The benefits for each spouse would be based on one-half of the couple's earnings during the years of marriage and on individual earnings while unmarried.