Hirono, Colleagues Reintroduce Legislation to Protect, Strengthen Women’s Retirement Security

~ Barriers like pay inequality, time out of the workforce leaves women’s retirement savings lagging behind men’s by 16 percent ~

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) joined Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Patty Murray (D-WA), and nine colleagues in reintroducing legislation to protect women’s retirement security. The Women’s Retirement Protection Act of 2025 (WRPA) would address systemic challenges women face to a secure retirement by strengthening protections and providing enhanced tools to ensure women can better prepare for retirement.

“Everyone deserves to have peace of mind that they will be financially prepared for retirement, yet compared to their male counterparts, women disproportionately face structural challenges that prevent them from being able to save adequately,” said Senator Hirono. “By strengthening protections for retirement savings, supporting financial literacy, and providing grants to assist with domestic relations orders, this legislation will provide tools to help women better prepare for retirement, helping to close the retirement gap and protect women’s retirement security.”

A secure retirement is one of the hallmarks of a strong middle class and an economy that works for all Americans, not just the wealthiest few. However, after decades of stagnant wages and barriers to saving adequately, far too few Americans are financially prepared for retirement. Women lag significantly behind their male counterparts in retirement savings, as the median retirement income in 2023 was 84 percent of men’s retirement income. Because of these financial challenges, women, age 65 and older, are much more likely to live in poverty, compared to men in the same age group. This is partly because women face systemic barriers, like unequal pay and time out of the workforce for caregiving duties, which make it more difficult to adequately save for retirement.

WRPA would address some of these challenges by extending critical protections to women’s retirement security and providing enhanced tools to ensure women can better prepare for retirement:

• Strengthen consumer protections to safeguard retirement savings – For many working families, their 401(k) plan is often their largest asset aside from their home. Under current law, one spouse could take a distribution or a loan from the plan without the other spouse’s knowledge or consent. WRPA would provide spousal protections to require spousal consent for almost all distributions.
• Increase financial literacy – One of the most promising ways to ensure people gain important financial and economic skills is through education. WRPA would enhance and bolster women’s financial literacy through grants for community-based organizations to help provide information and financial tools to women who are of working or retirement age.
• Provide assistance to help certain women obtain qualified domestic relations orders – Retirement accounts and pensions are often a leading cause of contention in divorce. WRPA would provide grants to community-based organizations to assist low-income women and survivors of domestic violence in obtaining the benefits to which they are entitled through qualified domestic relations orders—the legal instruments that allow for the division of retirement benefits—assuring they receive the retirement benefits they are entitled to following a divorce or legal separation.

In addition to Senators Hirono, Baldwin, and Murray, the Women’s Retirement Protection Act is also cosponsored by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR). This legislation was introduced in the U.S. House by U.S. Representative Lauren Underwood (D-IL) and is supported by the National Women’s Law Center, Pension Rights Center, and AARP.

The full text of the legislation is available here.

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