The gender pension gap is very similar to the gender pay gap: it is the difference between the amount of money that women and men have in their pension pot come retirement. And if you thought the gender pay gap was bad, you're in for a shock.
You've read that right. At 65-69, the average woman’s peak pension wealth is 1/5th of men’s. For context, the total gender pay gap is 18.5%, while the gender pensions income gap is at 39.5%, which is more than double the size of the total gender pay gap.
There are many elements that come into play to make this happen including the gender pay gap, maternity leave, and women being less likely to be enrolled in their workplace pension.
How do we close the gap?
The gender pension gap is a structural issue and can't be solved by us alone - but there are individual steps that we can take to minimize the impact on our pensions!
1) Start as early as possible! ⏰
Do you have a pension? If not, start now! It's never too late to start and the magic of compound interest will work in your favor every time.
2) Contribute more to your pension 🏋️♂️
If you have the means to add a little more to your pension - even if it's £10 a month - again, our friend compound interest can really stack that up over the years.
3) Opt back into your workplace pension 💼
Have you opted out or do you not know where your workplace is or what it's doing? Maybe it's time to find out. Spend a couple of hours tracking it down and understanding where your money is setting you up for now. It’s empowering, exciting and seeing your material world change is a pretty good motivator to carry on your financial journey!
And speaking of workplace pensions - it's time to get more involved.
You’ve probably been auto-enrolled into the pension scheme your workplace picked for you. Month by month that part of your paycheque is being siphoned off into the hands of the ominous ‘pension provider’ and we passively give them permission to make money decisions for us. Pardon our French, but isn’t that kind of effing bananas? 🍌
Under any other circumstances, if we gave a mysterious company 5% of our wages every month because your boss told you “Don't worry, they got this.” there would be no way you'd agree to that!
Learn more 🎓
You can access our 30 min Lunch & Learn recording on all things pension here.
Caroline’s spent the last 5 years in the pensions industry, helping trustee boards, investment consultants, and asset managers communicate – in both the calm and the storm. She is a campaign advisor for MakeMyMoneyMatter.
