Women around the world have attained just three quarters of men’s wealth by the time they retire, according to a major report on gender wealth equity.
WTW’s study 2022 Global Gender Wealth Equity Report shows that, on average, women are expected to reach retirement with just 74% of the wealth accumulated by men, with this percentage ranging from 60% at worst to 90% at best across all countries included in the analysis.
The gap increases with seniority, with women in senior expert and leadership roles found to have 62% of the accumulated wealth that their male counterparts enjoyed at retirement. For mid-level professional and technical roles, the gap was still substantial, with women attaining 69% of men’s wealth, but this rose considerably to 89% for frontline operational roles.
Overall, Europe had the least severe average gender wealth gap of all regions, with women expected to accumulate 77% of men’s wealth levels at retirement. The UK has one of the larger gaps within Europe, with women attaining 71% of men’s wealth – three points below the global average and only just above the Netherlands, in last place for the continent at 70%. Globally, the US’s gender wealth gap was just above the global average, with women attaining 75% of men’s wealth, while Canada performed slightly better, at 78%. Nigeria has the highest gap in the study, with women attaining only 60% of men’s wealth, closely followed by Argentina at 61% and Mexico and Turkey at 63%.
“The primary drivers contributing to gender-based wealth disparity include gender pay gaps and delayed career trajectories,” said WTW’s integrated and global solutions senior director Manjit Basi. “Additionally, gaps in financial literacy and family caregiving responsibilities outside the workplace influence women’s participation in paid employment and therefore their ability to build wealth.
“It’s imperative that activities around gender diversity, equity and inclusion broaden to look at economic wealth at the end of women’s working careers. Pay is a fundamental factor that underlies the gender wealth gap and while addressing the gender pay gap will partially close the wealth gap, it won’t eliminate it entirely.”
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