Widowhood's Economic Consequences Harshest on Minority Women

Authors Jacqueline Angel, Maren Jiménez, and Ronald Angel of the University of Texas at Austin sought to discover the economic consequences of losing a spouse as women approach retirement. They drew from a sample of over 4,500 hundred women between ages 51 and older. The study looked specifically at Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White women.

The findings show that although non-Hispanic white women had more initial wealth than their Black or Hispanic counterparts, widowhood resulted in a greater relative loss in total assets for the minorities. Black women who became widowed suffered a loss that was five times greater and Hispanic women a loss that was four times greater than non-Hispanic white women.

Women who have not had careers or worked in jobs in which they were able to vest a pension are almost totally dependent on their husband's income and limited community assets. Even if their absolute drop in income is less than that of more affluent non-Hispanic White women, minority widows can end up far worse financially if they have few assets to liquidate or borrow against.-The Gerontological Society of America