This document is a summary of the longer document of the same name which was published by the Social Security Administration in response to the changes in American society that have made the traditional male/female roles of lifelong worker/lifelong homemaker no longer representative. The study focused on such issues as dependent's benefits and whether they work as now structured; the plight of women divorced before retirement age; the problem of disabled homemakers; and other problems of groups of people, mostly women, who do not qualify for benefits when they need them, or alternatively, groups who receive benefits disproportionately, such as one-income couples versus two-income couples. Ths summary presents the following positions: (1) earnings sharing, and the eventual elimination of the spouse's benefit; (2) a two-tier benefit system, in which a minimum benefit would be paid to everyone and the second-tier benefit would be tied directly to earnings; and (3) universal coverage as the best solution to the offset provision of the Social Security amendments of 1977. (KC)