If you think the gender pension gap is something that shows up in your 50s or 60s, here’s the uncomfortable truth.
By the time most women realise there’s a problem, it’s already been quietly building for 20 years.
The pension gap doesn’t suddenly appear at retirement.
It starts much earlier, usually in your 30s, often without you even noticing.
And no, it’s not because women are bad with money.
Let’s talk about where it really begins.
1. The gender pension gap is real, and it’s still big
Across developed countries, women retire with significantly less pension income than men. According to the OECD, women receive pensions that are around 23% lower on average, and in countries like the UK, the gap is well over 35%.
That means many women are retiring on barely two-thirds of the income men receive.
The important bit is this.
The OECD is clear that this gap is not mainly caused by pension systems themselves.
It’s caused by what happens long before retirement.
Your pension is just the final scorecard.
2. Your 30s are when “temporary” decisions become permanent outcomes
Your 30s are often when life gets busy in ways that don’t show up neatly on a spreadsheet.
Children, caring for parents, reducing hours “for a few years”, turning down promotions for flexibility, choosing roles that fit life better but pay less.
None of these feel like pension decisions at the time.
But the OECD’s analysis shows that lifetime earnings gaps, around 35%, are the single biggest driver of the gender pension gap.
And those earnings gaps usually open up fastest in women’s 30s.
Not because women stop working, but because they work differently.
3. Part-time work is one of the biggest pension penalties no one talks about
Let’s be blunt.
Part-time work is expensive in the long run.
Women are far more likely than men to reduce hours, work part-time for long periods, or never quite return to previous earning levels.
The OECD found that differences in hours worked contribute just as much to the pension gap as pay inequality and time out of work.
That’s huge.
And here’s the bit most people aren’t told.
Most workplace pension schemes are designed for uninterrupted, full-time careers.
They don’t cope well with reduced hours, career breaks, phased returns or patchy contribution histories.
So even when women stay employed, their pensions quietly fall behind.
This is why so many women later find themselves searching for answers to questions like “why is my pension so low?” or “how much pension should a woman have in her 40s?”
4. Caring breaks matter, even when the system says they’re “covered”
In the UK, as in many countries, there are pension credits designed to protect people who take time out to care.
These help, but they don’t fully close the gap.
The OECD shows that even with caring credits, a five-year childcare break can still significantly reduce retirement income. The impact is worse for middle and higher earners, and returning part-time instead of full-time compounds the effect.
Credits soften the blow, but they don’t cancel it out.
Which is why “I’ll sort my pension later” so often turns into “I wish I’d paid attention earlier”.
5. Lower pay today means less protection tomorrow
Pay gaps aren’t just about fairness now. They shape future security.
The OECD breaks it down clearly.
Employment gaps, hours worked and hourly pay each contribute roughly one-third to lifetime earnings differences between men and women.
Lower pay doesn’t just mean lower pension contributions or smaller employer contributions.
It also means less capacity to top up pensions, less spare cash to invest, and less resilience if something goes wrong.
This is why women who earn well but still feel stretched are often shocked by how little flexibility they actually have.
6. The UK state pension helps, but it won’t fix this on its own
The UK state pension plays an important role, especially for women with broken work histories.
But even the OECD is clear on this point.
Strong state pensions reduce poverty, they do not eliminate pension inequality.
In countries like the UK, women still face large pension gaps despite basic pension provision, because workplace pensions reflect earnings, private pensions reflect spare income, and both mirror inequality earlier in life.
The state pension is a floor, not a plan.
7. Living longer makes the pension gap hurt more
Women live longer than men, which sounds like good news.
Financially, it’s complicated.
Longer life expectancy means pension income has to stretch further, annual income from the same-sized pot is lower, and exposure to inflation, care costs and later-life shocks increases.
Some countries are starting to recognise this structurally. Most don’t.
Which leaves many women facing the double hit of smaller pensions that need to last longer.
8. This isn’t about blame, it’s about visibility
Here’s the most important thing the OECD gets right.
Pension systems can’t undo a lifetime of inequality.
That doesn’t mean women should accept worse outcomes.
It means women deserve clearer information, earlier conversations and better choices.
The pension gap doesn’t start at retirement.
It starts when flexible work feels like the only option, caring is treated as a private issue, and pension decisions are postponed “until things settle down”.
And for many women, that’s their 30s.
So what actually helps?
Not panic. Not guilt. And definitely not jargon.
What helps is understanding the long-term impact of short-term choices, making pensions part of life planning rather than something you “get round to”, reviewing contributions whenever work patterns change, and knowing that small actions earlier beat big actions later.
Understanding the gender pension gap, and how it affects women in their 30s and 40s, is often the first step towards taking back control.
This isn’t about doing everything perfectly.
It’s about not sleepwalking into a future you didn’t choose.
If this has made you think differently about your pension, that’s a good place to start.
Understanding where you stand now can make a real difference later.
Book a free discovery call to talk through your options and take back control of your future.