Industry officials agree that more needs to be done about the issue.
"The disparity in retirement savings for women is deeper than what's at face value," said Kent Sluyter, president of Prudential Annuities. "We have made enormous strides in closing the gap. But for women, who are increasingly bearing more responsibility as primary wage earners and ‘CFOs’ of their household, it is even more important to help close the retirement income gap."
The Prudential report found that women and men, on average, expect to retire at age 67. But the average woman in the survey saved just $115,000 for retirement, compared with $203,000 for men. Nearly half (46 percent) of the women said they had no retirement savings at all. This is particularly startling since women tend to live longer; their need for retirement income is even greater than men's.
The gap may start early, too. Women now graduate from college in higher numbers than men but, as a consequence, they also hold 64 percent of all student debt, the Merrill study found. This inequity is further compounded by the gender pay gap. Women earn about 78 percent of what men do.
"Women’s average earnings—both annual and lifetime—remain below the level of men’s," said Sluyter. "Lower earnings during working years have also resulted in women earning Social Security benefits that are 23 percent lower than men’s, which is a key contributor to the retirement income gender gap. Currently, the median annual income of women age 65 and older is 42 percent lower than men's."
Further complicating women's lifetime earnings potential is the fact that many women interrupt their careers for parenting or, later, taking care of their parents.
"Divorce further compounds the risk," noted Sluyter. "More than a quarter of women say their spouse’s money will be a significant source of retirement income. But with just 45 percent of women married by age 65, compared to 70 percent of men, it pays for women to be individually prepared to tackle the retirement income challenge."