Women are less likely than men to prepare for their retirement by taking out a pension, according to new market research for pension provider Irish Life.
The survey by Behaviour & Attitudes Marketing Research found that twice as many women as men strongly believe they are "more in tune with financial matters" than their partners. In spite of that finding, the survey suggests that pension coverage for women is much lower than for men. "Pension coverage for women is particularly low with 47.5 per cent of working women over the age of 30 having a pension as opposed to 54.2 per cent of men," said Irish Life.
"However, women are even more vulnerable given that 44 per cent of all Irish women aged between 20 and 64 are not 'officially' in the workforce and therefore are not taken into account in these figures."
The company said 1,200 adults aged 15 and over were interviewed face-to-face at home for the research. It published the findings to mark the start of its "Pensions for Women" campaign, part of a 12-month campaign to raise general awareness of pensions.
Irish Life said the low pensions take-up among women was surprising given recent research from the pensions board which showed that 79 per cent of women aged 20-54 said the State pension would not be enough to live on. The company said that women were living even longer: the life expectancy of a woman retiring at 65 is a further 18.7 years, as opposed to just 15.4 years for a man. Men were no more enthused by pensions than women. Irish Life said pension take-up generally was likely to remain inadequate "in the absence of female agitation".
