Women must work eight extra years to achieve same pension pot as men – report

Muireann Duffy

In order to achieve the same pension pot on retirement as their male counterparts, women have to work eight years longer, research has found.

Overall, a national Gender Pension Gap of 36 per cent was noted in the research, driven by salary differences and time out of the workplace.

Irish Life's 2024 Gender Pension Gap report, which analysed over 130,000 of the provider's defined contribution plan , found that women's salaries are, on average, 22 per cent lower than men's.

In addition, women were found to be twice as likely to earn under €30,000 per annum, while men were two times more likely to earn over €100,000.

As well as salary differences, the other significant contributory factor to the Gender Pension Gap was time out of the workforce, with the research finding that women, on average, take six years out of the workforce, mainly for maternity leave and family caring responsibilities.

Women were also found to be three times more likely to work part-time and were 48 times more likely to be carers.

Researchers noted that the average age at which people start a pension is the same for both genders, and each contribute comparable percentages of their salaries, "confirming that saving habits play no role in the Gender Pension Gap".

In of individual actions, the study found that those who make single and/or regular additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) are likely to get pension pots 150 per cent larger than those who do not.

In this regard, men were found to be 60 per cent more likely to make single AVCs, and 12 per cent more likely to make regular AVCs.

"The answer simply cannot be women continuing to work for eight more years while the men in their workplace retire," Irish Life's director of employer solutions Shane O'Farrell said.

"When it comes to levelling the playing field and remedying the Gender Pension Gap, we all have a part to play. Improvements can be achieved by implementing the right reforms to gender-proof pension policy," he said.

"Employers can also play a key part by reviewing their own workplace benefits and deg initiatives with their pension provider, to economically empower the women in their workforce.

"Another option for employers to help address the Gender Pension Gap at source before it has a chance to compound, is to introduce a pension specific workplace policy, adding an additional employer contribution for a period of time for women returning from maternity leave," Mr Farrell added.