Women aged between 65 and 74 years old have saved half as much money for retirement as men the same age, analysis conducted by Scottish Widows has revealed.

Scottish Widows’ research discovered women in this age group have average pension savings of £130,000, whereas men will retire with an average of £260,000 in their pot.

While the gap between the proportion of men and women saving adequately – defined as putting away a minimum of 12 per cent of their salaries – disappeared for the first time on record in 2021, according to Scottish Widows, for older women these recent improvements have had limited impact.

Scottish Widows’ study provided several explanations for this gap, such as women often taking career breaks to look after young children and returning to work on a part-time basis, with women currently making up 75 per cent of all part-time workers.

The research also cited the lower rate of savings for women compared to men, as the latest Scottish Widows Women and Retirement Report discovered that on average men are putting 16 per cent of pay aside, while women save 13.5 per cent.

Scottish Widows managing director of workplace savings, Jackie Leiper, “Despite the progress that’s been made in recent years by getting more women to save adequately for their retirement, there’s still a mountain to climb to reach true pensions parity.

“For women in their 60s and 70s, the choices are limited: carry on working or live a more frugal retirement?

“By shining a light on the significant gender pension gap that exists for women of all ages this international Women’s Day, we hope we can accelerate the positive changes we’re seeing so that future generations aren’t counting the cost of gender inequality in retirement.”

There are growing concerns that as the cost-of-living intensifies, with energy bills predicted to rise by 54 per cent next month and inflation currently running at 5.4 per cent, many pensioners could see their retirement income being squeezed, and women with smaller monthly incomes will be hit hardest.

In its Women and Retirement Report, Scottish Widows called for a number of changes to help close the gender pension gap for future generations.

This included enhancing maternity pensions, equalising shared parental leave rights, addressing costs of childcare, and making it compulsory for pensions to be included in divorce proceedings.

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