What is the most important women's economic issue facing the new Congress?
The surprising answer is a topic that until recently generated mostly yawns from women - and men - who are not the card-carrying AARP-type: Social Security reform.
President Bush has promised that a cornerstone of his second term will include reforming Social Security to permit individual investment accounts, similar to IRAs or 401(k)s.
Absent a huge increase in FICA taxes or a cut in benefits, reconfiguring the nature of Social Security itself - the largest government program in the world - is the only way to keep it solvent in the long term.
But more than solvency is at stake: What most women fail to realize is that personal retirement accounts will improve the independence and financial security of women from all walks of life.
Young women
Workers lose one out of every eight dollars earned to Social Security. That's a huge tax, with a lousy return.
The Independent Women's Forum reports that a woman born in 1980 can expect a 1.4 percent return from Social Security.
Even with the vagaries of the stock market, anyone with a 401(k) knows that she can do better than 1.4 percent - regardless of financial expertise. No wonder more young people believe in UFOs than believe that the Social Security system will be solvent for them when they retire, according to the Cato Institute.
Stay-at-home moms
Many women leave the workforce, often for years, to care for small children or aging parents (or both). A stay-at-home mom receives only half the retirement benefits that her husband earns.
Meanwhile, her previous "contributions" to Social Security do not grow. She and her family would be much better off if the FICA taxes she paid while she worked were invested in the market; her initial tax "contribution" would continue to earn compound interest even while she took time off from the workplace.
Moms working part-time
According to the Independent Women's Forum, when married women work, they will receive the greater of (1) the Social Security benefits that they personally earn or (2) half of the husband's benefit - but not both.
Women who return to the work force typically make less than their husbands; they take a pay cut in exchange for flexible hours.
As secondary earners, therefore, these women receive no Social Security credits for their work. None.
Bear in mind, they still "contribute" one out of every eight dollars they earn to FICA: an absolute loss of income.
This system unfairly discourages women from re-entering the workplace and thereby jeopardizes their financial future if they become widowed or divorced. Under a system of private investment accounts, in contrast, the more a woman works, the more she will receive when she retires.
Divorced women
One-third of all marriages that don't make it dissolve in the first 10 years, according to the Cato Institute. Currently, a woman who divorces before the 10-year mark loses all claim to her husband's Social Security benefits. She gets nothing.
But if the Social Security tax had been invested in a personal account, it would be a marital asset of which the woman could claim a portion.
Elderly women
In all the debate about Social Security reform, much is made of the fact that the population is aging and that the baby boomers will retire soon. Little is said about the fact that women live longer than men, and rely more heavily on Social Security than men.
Women have the greatest stake in seeing that Social Security taxes produce the greatest possible return.
Untimely demise
The woman who dies before the magic retirement age cannot under the current system pass on her Social Security retirement benefits to her children or grandchildren (though minor children may be entitled to some benefits).
And herein lies the great myth about Social Security: We have no legal right to our "contribution." Even though the "I" in FICA stands for insurance, the U.S. Supreme Court has long held that Social Security is a tax, not insurance, and that no one has a legal right to any benefit just because she paid FICA taxes.
Women can therefore work decades, pay thousands of dollars into the system, and yet be unable to pass on any of it to their loved ones.
Private investment accounts, on the other hand, can be bequeathed. That is, after all, the point of working hard for a lifetime - to take care of those we love. This point is particularly important for poorer women who would not otherwise be able to accumulate any inheritable wealth.
We should not settle for a Social Security system that is merely solvent. Solvency can be achieved by raising taxes or slashing benefits. As the Cato Institute has recommended, the whole system needs to be adapted to allow all workers - and particularly women - to benefit from what Albert Einstein reportedly called " the most powerful force in the universe" - compound interest.
Time will tell whether it is powerful enough to move Congress.
Note: Bridget Bush is an attorney who lives in Louisville.
