GENDER DIFFERENCES IN RETIREMENT INCOME - A COMPARISON OF THEORETICALEXPLANATIONS

This study used a sample of retired men and women from the Social Secu rity Administration's Master Beneficiary Record to test theoretical ex planations for gender differences in retirement income. We found that although human capital/status attainment, dual economy, and labor-mark et segmentation theories helped to explain differences in retirement i ncome between men and women, these factors did not totally eliminate t he influence of gender on the level of retirement income. Only the fam ily demand factor representing the continuity of marital career substa ntially reduced the effect of being a woman. Women who were currently and continuously married to the same man received more retirement inco me than women who had experienced divorce or widowhood.