 While in Congress , Ferraro focused much of her legislative attention on equity for women in the areas of wages , pensions , and retirement plans . She was a cosponsor of the 1981 Economic Equity Act . On the House Select Committee on Aging , she concentrated on the problems of elderly women . In 1984 , she championed a pension equity law revision that would improve the benefits of people who left work for long periods and then returned , a typical case for women with families . The Reagan administration , at first lukewarm to the measure , decided to sign it to gain the benefits of its popular appeal . 
