Sometimes it's hard to be a woman – 3 takeaways from the latest data

But once again the Scottish Widows annual Women and Retirement report has demonstrated that it is indeed hard, and crucially there’s a chasm between men’s and women’s ability to change the course of their pension outcomes.

There is some good news, though. Since last year women have notched up 2 percentage points on the ‘adequate savers’ proportion, which still stands at a worryingly low 52 per cent.

The gain is thanks to those undersaving by just a tad, upping their game. And given this figure was just 40 per cent in 2013, the continuation of an upward trend should be welcomed.

Heading in the right direction

Source: Scottish Widows

Auto-enrolment

The shortfalls of this policy in its current form are illustrated far more starkly when looking at women alone – in particular the fact that such a large proportion sit beneath the earnings threshold of £10,000.

Aside from the fact that women in general earn less than men, they are also more likely to work part-time; 18 per cent of women versus just 6 per cent of men.

Many women have more than one part-time role – however, even if they amount to more than £10,000 they will not be flipped into auto-enrolment, leaving many women out in the cold on pension saving.

Whether a result of low salary and therefore affordability, or simply exclusion from the initiative, it’s perhaps unsurprising then that 38 per cent of women either don’t think auto-enrolment is a good idea or they don’t know, versus 32 per cent of men.

Pensions as a retention tool

Twelve per cent of women surveyed by Scottish Widows did not have access to an employer pension scheme, compared with 9 per cent of men.

Just under a quarter of women (23 per cent) considered a workplace pension an incentive to work for a company.

However, interestingly, while the youngest and oldest cohorts showed relatively low levels of engagement on this point, 60 per cent of those in their 30s said an employer pension would be an incentive to stay with their employer.

Younger women aren’t completely unaware of the challenges of adequacy in retirement, though. Those aged 18-21 think you have to save the most – £320,000 – to retire comfortably. This compares with £240,000 for 60-64-year-old women.

This demonstrates a couple of key generational divisions in the findings. Older women are more likely to still have access to defined benefits, making the course to retirement appear simpler and perhaps cheaper in terms of their own contributions.

Meanwhile, today’s thirty-somethings are at a critical junction in their lives, where simultaneously they face the growing pressures associated with house-buying, legacy student debt or other debt, and starting a family.

Every little helps and all of these factors could contribute to the data showing a stronger appreciation of workplace pensions and their employer’s contributions.

Conclusions

While pensions are gaining traction among women, their needs and levels of engagement are diverse across the age groups and dependent on whether they work part-time, full-time or freelance. All of these factors need to be taken into consideration when communicating with these cohorts.

Confidence is also a factor. BlackRock’s Global Investor Pulse Survey of 4,000 respondents in the UK showed Britons are less confident this year when making savings and investment decisions, falling to 49 per cent from 52 per cent, with confidence particularly low among women (42 per cent).

But the ceiling to the success of any engagement drive resides in the exclusion of swaths women from auto-enrolment.

Not only are they shut out from the benefits of their own and their employer’s contributions, but auto-enrolment is also a powerful first step in communicating both the virtues of saving and how much women are likely to need for a comfortable retirement.

And if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.