Women’s pension pots are 40% below men’s
The average pension pot of a male in Ireland is €102,017 versus just €60,562 for a female.
The average Irish woman’s pension pot is 40% less than her male counterpart, according to new research.
The survey of 1,000 adults nationwide commissioned by financial services intermediary Ask Acorn found that the average pension pot of a male in Ireland is €102,017. The equivalent figure for a female is just €60,562. This means that Irish women have saved an average of €41,455 less than men, indicating a gender pension gap of 40%.
CEO of Ask Acorn, Keith Butler, says that despite the progress on gender equality in recent years, women are still falling well behind men when it comes to their pension pots.
“Given that women in Ireland typically live longer than men, and that there has been a substantial increase in recent years in the number of female retirees, the gender pension gap is hugely concerning.”
Overall, three in ten Irish adults have no retirement savings. That figure breaks down to one in three women and one in four men. The average pension pot built up by males close to retirement – that is, aged 55 plus – is €144,716. For females, the amount is only €82,674.
Looking specifically at those who have retirement savings, 33% of men said they have pension pots of €100,000 or more, but only 15% of women said the same.
Mr Butler points out that women have long faced challenges in building their pension savings and that these challenges are well-documented.
Women often earn less than men, and as a result, don't have as much to save into their pension as their male counterparts. Wages in job sectors traditionally dominated by women are often low. In addition, mothers often take time out of the workforce or move to shorter working weeks to look after children. Women are also three times as likely as men to work part-time.
“It is imperative,” said Mr Butler, “that the gender pension gap is addressed, otherwise many women could struggle to make ends meet in retirement, finding it difficult to fund medical care when they most need it, or could simply find their lifestyle in retirement is not as comfortable as they had hoped.
“The reasons eating into a woman's ability to save for a pension need to be tackled and addressed, and more needs to be done to encourage women to save adequately for their pension.”
