On average, American women...

• Earn 20 percent less than men, among full-time workers with comparable education attainment and age. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• Live longer than men.  Life expectancy at birth is 80 years for women and 75 for men. (Social Security Administration)
• Have less saved.  Average 401(k) balances were $56,723 for women and $95,447 for men in 2007.  (Vanguard study of 3 million 401(k) particpants).
• Are more likley to live in poverty at age 18 or older (12 percent of women and 8.8 percent of men).  (Dept. of Health and Human Services)

Divorce.  The divorce rate in America is 41 percent for first marriages, 60 percent for second marriages, and 73 percent for third marriages (divorcerate.org).  And...

• Divorced women with children are four times more likley than married women to have an income that is under the poverty line. (divorce.lovetoknow.com/divorce_statistics)
• A single mom is nine times more likley than a married woman to have an income that is less than half the official poverty line.  (divorce.lovetoknow.com/divorce_statistics)
• Although 10 percent of families in the U.S. are headed by a woman, 40 percent of poor families have a female head of household. (divorce.lovetoknow.com/divorce_statistics)

Widows.  The average age of widowhood is 56, and ...

• More than one quarter of women age 55 and older are widows, and that number increases to almost two-thirds for women who are 75 and older. 
• 1.5 million women aged 55-64 are widowed.
• Only 7 out of 100 widows will remarry

Authored by:  Linda Leitz, a NAFPA advisor and freelance writer in Colorado Springs, CO.  She can be contacted at linda@lindaleitz.com