For women who have left the workforce to care for children or scaled back to a part-time job, the consequences of not paying into Social Security may leave them in a financial bind, says Jocelyn Elise Crowley, a professor of public policy at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
“For every year a woman is at home taking care of their kids, Social Security puts in a zero. For their final yearly benefits, women receive thousands of dollars less in Social Security than men,” she says.
Social Security does permit some divorced individuals to be eligible for half of the ex-spouse’s benefits under certain conditions, including being married for at least 10 years.