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- The Gender Pension Gap is more than 2x larger than the Gender Pay Gap
- It has increased over the last few years, reaching 40.5% based on the most recent data
- Women aged 65 have 66.5% less pension savings than men of the same age
The Gender Pay Gap is given a lot of attention. But could another sex-based financial disparity actually have a greater impact on people’s lives?
Moneyzine.co.uk has analysed data related to the Gender Pension Gap in the UK - the difference between retirement income for Men and Women. And the results are clear: women face significantly bigger financial disadvantages when they retire than they faced in the workforce.
The growing pension gap
The data gathered on the gap since 2016, and found that the most recent reports - from 2020-2021 - show the highest gap on record. During the same period, the overall Gender Pay Gap decreased 2.8%.
This difference demonstrates an important fact: the Gender Pension Gap is not only a reflection of the Gender Pay Gap. Instead, several other factors - including difference in State Pension entitlements and more unpaid hours doing ‘care work’ - contribute to the gross inequality in retirement income.
The impact of inequality
The Gender Pension Gap is currently 40.5% - its highest level since 2015. But the figures are even more grizzly when you look at private pension wealth.
In two-thirds of industries, women’s private pension wealth is less than half that of men. The overall private pension gender wealth gap is 56%. And older women have it harder still: those aged 65 face a pensions savings wealth gap of 66.5%, meaning they would have to spend an additional 18 years in full-time employment to gain parity with their male counterparts.
At its current level, the Gender Pension Gap represents £7,100 less pension income for women. This has a material impact on women’s experience of retirement, as well as their financial independence and freedom.Jonathan Merry, CEO of Moneyzine.co.uk
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