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Mind the Pensions
Gap
Alice Tapper, founder and author of Go Fund Yourself, explores the gender pension gap – the insidious issue leaving women vulnerable in retirement
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hile the gender pay gap has taken centre stage, leaving us familiar with the grim realities of pay inequality, waiting in the wings is its lesser-known but equally worrying bedfellow, the gender pension gap - an issue leaving women woefully unprepared for retirement. With what feels like an ever-tightening squeeze on our incomes, the prospect of saving money may feel like a fairy-tale to many, but the good news is that women are in fact saving more than ever before. Since 2007/08, the average savings of women has risen 4.6%, according to a recent report from Scottish Widows, which translates to an additional £5,900 in retirement income each year. However, the report also highlights what has been described as a ‘gender pension gap’ - an alarming £78,000 discrepancy in the average pension savings of retirement-age men and women. While the pension gap might not have received the same attention as the gender pay gap, this is no reflection on the scale of the issue. A report published by trade union Prospect found that the gender pension gap (39.5%) was more than
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