July 2021

What would women’s pensions look like if there wasn’t a gender pay gap? The economic case for gender-inclusive, paid parental leave

By Pension Bee PensionBee’s vision is a world where everyone can look forward to a happy retirement. For this to happen, we all need good health, financial freedom, and social inclusion. Currently, an obstacle to achieving this financial freedom for all is a gender pension gap of up to almost 60%. Bold action is required to challenge this so that women can enjoy similar levels of wealth in retirement as men. This is particularly important as women tend to live longer...

UK. Women’s pensions ‘would gain over £106k on average’ if new fathers did half of unpaid care work, report finds

Women are losing out on over £100,000 in their pension pots on average due to men not taking on an equal share of unpaid care work in the early years of child-rearing, a new report has found. Read also UK. Half of millennials want cryptocurrencies in pensions The "gender pension gap" is a known issue. Women are more likely to be left in poverty on retirement because they typically work fewer hours due to caring responsibilities from their late twenties onwards,...

June 2021

The Gender Pensions Gap

By A recent report by the trade union Prospect found that the gender pensions income gap (39.5%) was more than double the size of the total gender pay gap (18.5%), with the average female pensioner £7000 p.a. poorer than their male equivalent.2 This inequality in the present is the result of the unequal accrual of pension entitlements over decades. It is mainly the product of women’s lower state pension entitlement, the gender pay gap, lower historic access to workplace pensions and...

Women and Retirement in a Post Covid-19 World

By Margaret Claire Dale, Susan St John Women on average live longer than men and are more likely to live alone or be widowed. In spite of their greater needs, they are more likely to arrive at retirement without secure housing, to have saved less because of caring duties and lower wages, and thus to experience greatly restricted lifestyles in retirement. They are more likely to require expensive end of life care for longer than men on average and endure...

Pensions – 5 things for policy makers to close the gender pensions gap

Three tenths (30%) of women do not have any private or workplace pensions, and will receive a state pension only at retirement, almost double the amount of men (17%) in the same position – showing that women have less savings and are less prepared for a financially stable retirement. • The pensions gap widens even more, later in life. Almost two fifths (38%) of women over 55 will rely on a state pension only, compared to 17% of men...

May 2021

How Regulators Use Sex-Disaggregated Data and RegTech to Enhance Financial Inclusion

By Toronto Centre Financial inclusion of women brings disproportionate benefits to their families and to economic development, yet in many countries an access-to-finance gender gap remains. Sex-disaggregated data (SDD) is key to monitoring and addressing this problem. This study examines the role that financial services regulators can play in efforts to address financial inclusion of women: how they are using, or could use, SDD to enhance women’s access to and use of financial products and services of the right quality that...

Australia’s Budget Takes Steps to Narrow Gender Gap in Pensions

Australia is taking steps to lift retirement savings of women in a bid to address the gender pension gap. The government will remove the A$450 ($352) per month earnings threshold before employers are forced contribute cash into their workers’ retirement funds by July 2022, according to budget documents released Tuesday. Australia will also increase compulsory pension savings to 10% of a worker’s wage from July 1, as previously legislated. Read also Australia Considers Paying Pensions on Parental Leave Program The plan comes...

April 2021

Australia. Women retire with over $30,000 lower balance in super than men

Australians need to prepare for retirement and take control over when and with how much they want to retire, according to chief analyst at Wealth Within, Dale Gillham. He stressed it was also concerning that women retired on average with a balance of $122,848 in super compared to men who, according to the Association of Superannuation Funds Australia (ASFA) figures, retired with an average of $154,453. “When you look at the figures on how much Australians are retiring on, it shines...

UK. Pension communications ‘failing to engage’ more women than men

The FCA's Financial Lives research revealed 60% of women are unaware of the charges on their defined contribution (DC) pension compared to 44% of men, while 57% of women have not reviewed how much their pension is worth in the last 12 months compared to 46% of men. Additionally, 14% of women admitted they do not read their annual statement, more than double the 6% of men who do not read it. More than half of women (53%) did not choose...

March 2021

UK women have up to 45% less in pension at retirement than men

The UK pensions system disadvantages women compared to men, with females having between 25% to 45% less in their pension pots at retirement, new data has shown. According to analysis from professional services consultancy Barnett Waddingham, the gender pension gap begins to diverge most after the age of 32, with men contributing up to £1,500 ($2,068) per annum more into their pension than women. This is despite contributing the same percentage of their salary. The research, which analysed the data and saving...