In Germany, the face of the elderly poor is a woman’s face. Last year, women in the west of the country received an average of 449 euros in statutory pension insurance from their own working lives, while men received nearly twice as much – 865 euros – according to information provided by Deutsche Rentenversicherung (DRV), the agency that administers the statutory pension insurance program in Germany. But these average figures tell us less and less about the actual working lives and asset situations of elderly women, since every period of parental leave taken and every year spent working part-time widens the pension gap, depressing pension levels and driving survivor benefits down – even though time spent raising children is counted in the system.