April 2024

UK. Women’s pension pots ‘worth half of mens’

The comparison with male pensions find women’s savings are dwarfed, with men’s pensions average around £75,000. It was also found that men are ‘more likely to manage their own pensions’ than women. Independent research conducted on behalf of Handelsbanken Wealth & Asset Management on gender and the wealth gap. Nearly a third of women were found to have pensions below £25,000 and only one in 10 women have a pension exceeding £100,000, whole this is true for nearly a third...

Wealth Creators or Inheritors? Unpacking the Gender Wealth Gap from Bottom to Top and Young to Old

By Eva Sierminska, Charlotte Bartels & Carsten Schroeder There is growing interest in understanding how gender influences the accumulation of wealth. While prior studies have focused on labor-related determinants, our research focuses on inheritances and gifts. Using unique data that over samples the top 1% of wealth holders in Germany, we show that the gender wealth gap is small for individuals up to age 40, then widens, and declines for those past retirement age. Transfer amounts and their timing are...

March 2024

UK Government ‘continuing to drag its feet’ on women’s pensions

The UK Government has been accused of “continuing to drag its feet” on ensuring women born in the 1950s receive pension equality. Thirty campaigners from the Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) group were in the public gallery as the issue was raised in the Senedd on March 6. The campaign was launched amid concerns about the way in which women’s state pension age was increased from 60 to 66 in line with men. Millions of women saw their retirement plans plunged...

The gender pensions gap report 2024

By Joanne Segars, Lizzy Holliday & Laura Wilkinson The gender pensions gap- the difference in pension savings wealth between men and women at retirement age - is substantial. Allowing for typical working patterns, women's pension wealth is a third (33%) less, relative to men. These figures are the result of a lifetime of reduced earnings potential, increased time out of the workforce and other contributory factors. To bridge this gap themselves, women would need to work an extra 19 years in...

Gender Pension Gap in EU Countries: A Between-Group Inequality Approach

By Antonio Abatemarco, Elena Lagomarsino & Maria Russolillo  Pension entitlements are influenced by individual career paths and labor market conditions, which often result in gender-based disparities. Women face several challenges during their working lives, such as late entry into the labor market, the gender pay gap, discontinuous working careers, and early retirement due to family caregiving, which lead to lower pension incomes. This paper investigates the gender pension gap in nine European Union countries from 2004 to 2020. Our study...

The gender pension gap: What does it tell us and what should be done about it?

By Miglena Abels, Loli Arribas-Banos & Gustavo Demarco Despite recent attention in the media, progress in closing the gender pension gap in most countries has halted. These sources point to a stark disparity in retirement outcomes, with women receiving pensions that are between 25% to 30% lower than those of men. Methodological differences to estimate the gap don’t make it less striking and are no excuse for inaction. Source World Bank

February 2024

Closing the Gap: The Role of Public Pensions in Reducing Retirement Inequality

By Nari Rhee This study analyzes the impact of defined benefit pensions, especially public pensions, on retirement income security and wealth distribution by race, gender, and educational attainment in the U.S. It serves as a companion report to Closing the Gap fact sheets, which are designed to inform the public about the social equity impact of pensions in each state and the District of Columbia. Get the report here

Gender Inequality Over the Life Cycle, Information Provision and Policy Preferences

By Alessandra Casarico, Jana Schuetz & Silke Uebelmesser We conduct a survey experiment with four thousand German respondents and provide information on two measures of gender inequality, separately or jointly: the gender gap in earnings and the gender gap in pensions. We analyze the effect of information provision on respondents’ views on the importance of reducing gender inequality and on their agreement with the adoption of policies targeted at different stages of the life cycle and aimed at reducing the...

UK. What can schemes do to close the gender pension gap?

Fundamental changes in society are still needed but the pensions industry appears determined to help close the yawning gap between men and women’s retirement incomes. A Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) report in partnership with NOW: Pensions estimates that a girl would need to start saving towards a pension at three to close the vast gender pensions gap between men and women. The PPI’s report, released earlier this month, revealed how by retirement age (67), women had average pension savings of £69,000 compared to...

The Role of AI to Enhance Retirement Savings: The Gender Gap Challenge

By Anabel Martínez Colín AI is the biggest disruptor in the financial sector, where there are many AI solutions at work, and the role of AI over it is well documented. However, the deployment of AI in the pension segment is still at an exploratory stage, and its influence on the gender gap in pensions is still unclear. This research explores the relationship between AI readiness and the gender gap in pensions (GGP), which may also be statistically significant. In addition,...