Editor’s note: Published by the National Partnership for Women and Families (NPWF) on August 13, 2025; this article was authored by Jessica Mason, NPWF’s Senior Policy Analyst.

Ninety years ago in a “terrifically hot Washington summer” much like this one, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law, creating programs for unemployment insurance, retirement benefits and more. Amid the devastation of the Great Depression, the law offered a new promise of basic economic security for millions of Americans.

“Stripped down to bare terms, what does ‘social security’ mean? Just that the inevitable hazards of life shall not be allowed to take their uttermost toll of the defenseless,” explained Mary Dewson, an early member of the Social Security Board, in 1938.

The first Social Security programs were far from perfect, a key example being the racist exclusion of domestic and farm workers, which left the majority of Black workers ineligible. They’ve been changed numerous times since 1935, including adding new benefits and making more people eligible – as well as cutting some benefits by raising the age to qualify for full retirement. But even with its flaws, after 90 years Social Security remains the foundation of economic security for people in the United States, particularly for women and people of color.

Here are three facts you should know about Social Security at 90 – and one awful lie that the Trump administration and its billionaire cronies are desperate for you to believe.

Women Depend on Social Security

Women are just over half of Social Security retirement beneficiaries and half of SSDI recipients, and without Social Security, 9.4 million more older women would live below the poverty line. Social Security programs are especially vital for women because they tend to be paid less than men (hello, wage gap!), to spend more time out of the workforce for caregiving, and to more often work jobs without retirement benefits. All of that makes it extra difficult for women to build their own savings. Discrimination in wages and the labor market mean Social Security is also essential for workers of color. Without it, poverty rates for older Latino and Black adults would be nearly 50 percent higher.

Unfortunately, those same inequities result in lower Social Security income. On average, retired women receive 81 cents in Social Security retirement for every dollar paid to men. We’ve got to close gender and racial wage gaps, and consider solutions like Social Security credits for caregiving that would honor the $1.1 trillion in unpaid labor that Americans take on annually – two-thirds by women.

Social Security Isn’t Only for Retirement – Disabled People Need It, Too

For many people, “Social Security” is synonymous with its biggest program, retirement benefits for older adults: about four-fifths of all people using Social Security programs are getting retirement benefits. But more than seven million beneficiaries are disabled workers who receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), and some of their children and spouses also get SSDI benefits. The Social Security Administration also oversees the Supplemental Security Income (SSI), an income support for about seven million disabled and older people (including more than four million women and girls) with very low incomes and extremely limited assets.

SSDI and SSI provide modest but vital income for disabled people and their families, though these programs are hard to qualify for. SSDI recipients must have a substantial work history, which may be more difficult for women to meet due to time spent out of the workforce for caregiving, or being employed in jobs that don’t count toward SSDI credits. Both SSDI and SSI applicants must not only have a serious disability, but also be able to prove their status by navigating a complex bureaucratic process, including outwaiting a big claims backlog that DOGE cuts are likely making worse.

One great way to mark Social Security’s 90th would be to strengthen these programs and make them more accessible – including taking on the SSI asset limit and marriage penalty that punish disabled people and keep them from saving for the future. In fact, two-thirds of the public supports either raising or eliminating asset limits.

Paid Leave and Social Security Have a Secret Connection

If you hang with the National Partnership, you probably know that most workers do not have paid medical leave for a serious injury or illness, and access has hardly budged in a decade and a half. But did you know that paid leave was on the table all the way back in 1935?

Digging deep into the archives, fellow advocate Molly Weston Williamson uncovered this history in a recent article. In the original report that inspired the Social Security Act, the FDR-appointed Committee on Economic Security drew attention to three major “hazards” that led to “destitution and despondency,” including not only unemployment and old age but also sickness. In the end, medical leave was not included in the 1935 legislation, but as Williamson writes, it “was a necessary part of the ambitious vision of comprehensive economic security protection behind the law. Those who knew Social Security best continually sought to restore this missing piece, the absence of which left the law, as Roosevelt declared, ‘by no means complete.’”

Ninety years is long enough to wait – let’s get paid leave done!

Social Security Is Under Threat, But It Can Survive Another 90 Years – Especially If the Rich Pay Their Fair Share

As much as I love Social Security, I have to be honest: year 90 is looking like a tough one. Trump, Republicans and their billionaire cronies have been attacking the agency and its programs from all angles. DOGE-driven staff cuts and closures threaten service to applicants and beneficiaries. The Trump budget law reduces Social Security funding through tax cuts for wealthier retirees. Social Security financing and beneficiaries will also be hurt by Congress tripling the budget of ICE to fund its abusive and discriminatory enforcement operations. Undocumented immigrant workers paid nearly $26 billion in Social Security taxes in 2022 alone, for example, and immigrant workers also provide care that older and disabled Social Security beneficiaries rely on.

This is all happening at a time when Congress needs to take action to strengthen Social Security and shore up its funding. No, Social Security is not “going bankrupt,” a lie that opponents have spread for years to undermine public support. We are heading toward a shortfall in about nine years, meaning benefits would be cut by about one-fifth, but Congress can prevent this. One simple fix that would help? Make sure high-paid workers pitch in their fair share, which nearly 70 percent of people support.

On Social Security’s 90th, let’s celebrate a cornerstone of economic security for women and families. And let’s get to work on protecting and revitalizing it for an even better 100th!