New research suggests that more women than men plan to reduce their pension contributions in the next six months in a sign the gender gap in savings may grow.

According to research for provider Aegon, in July 15% of women but only 10% of men said they were likely to decrease their pension contributions in the next six months.

Research also found that over the past 5 months during the pandemic men have been more engaged and optimistic about investing compared to women.

Between March and July, just under half (47%) of men said they considered it the right time to increase the amount they invest compared to 31% of women.

Research carried out by Aegon among just under 7,000 respondents between March and July found that Coronavirus has widened the gap between men and women when it comes to their attitudes to saving and investing.

Aegon warned this could widen the gender pensions gap.

In July, more than half of all men (54%) also said that they had checked the performance of their investments in the last 4 weeks compared to less than a third (28%) of women. Over double the number of men (48%) said they paid attention to the stock markets in July compared to women (22%).

Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon said: “The Coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly impacted people’s attitudes towards saving and investing as many individuals have found their employment and financial situations affected. Our research shows that lockdown has exacerbated the gap in attitudes between men and women when it comes to the amount they may save in future and their likelihood of investing more in the stockmarket to benefit from any recovery.

 “Two of the key drivers for women to close the gender pensions gap is to put more into pensions and to take a little more risk with investments, particularly at younger ages, in the hope of boosting returns and benefitting from any recovery in the stockmarket.

"Unfortunately, our research suggests that women are more likely to cut back on pension saving over the next six months and less keen than men to invest in the stockmarket. If this is the case, the gender pensions gap is likely to increase just as there were encouraging signs it might be decreasing.”

• Research carried out through the Aegon consumer panel between March – July 2020 with 6,900 respondents.